Transactive communication network

ABSTRACT

A method of operating a user equipment (UE) gateway through a transactive network is disclosed. The method includes sending a service request to one or more distributed units in the network, receiving a proposed contract from each of the one or more distributed units, deciding on a winning proposed contract, notifying a winning distributed unit associated with the winning proposed contract, and connecting to receive services through the winning distributed unit. A method of operating a distributed unit includes receiving a service request from a UE gateway, requesting service from a provider according to the service request, receiving a provisional contract from the provider, providing a proposal with the provisional contract to the service request to the UE gateway; and, if notified that the proposal is a winning proposal, arranging services to the UE gateway according to the proposal.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This disclosure is related to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.63/012433, entitled “System and Method for a Virtual TransactiveWireless Mesh Network Supporting Transactive Energy and TransactiveCommunications Services, filed on Apr. 20, 2020, U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 62/911556, entitled “System and Method for a SecureMesh Fixed Wireless Network Protecting Connected Devices and ProvidingIrrefutable Distributed Transaction Ledger,” filed on Oct. 7, 2019, eachof which is herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

This application is further related to U.S. Patent Application {AttorneyDocket No. 59433.2US01} entitled “A Dynamic Radio Access Mesh Network,”U.S. Patent Application {Attorney Docket No. 59433.4US01} entitled “ASecured Distributed Mesh Network,” and U.S. Patent Application {AttorneyDocket No. 59433.5US01} entitled “Device Module Formation of NetworkDevices for a Distributed Mesh Radio Network,” each of which areconcurrently filed with the present disclosure, and each of which areherein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present invention are related to networks and, inparticular, to a system and method for a transactive communicationnetwork.

DISCUSSION OF RELATED ART

Current broadband internet services are provided by fixed networks.Although there are multiple technologies that allow for transmission ofdata through the network, for example by combinations of cabling,optical, microwave, radio, or other technologies. Expanding the networkrequires further infrastructure and is fixed to each subscriber. Forexample, each subscriber is fixed in bandwidth and often pays accordingto the amount of bandwidth that is subscribed but not based on thebandwidth that is actually used. Further, the number ofInternet-of-Things (IoT) devices is increasing dramatically. Thesedevices present security problems for standard networks.

It has been years since United Nations identified broadband connectionto the enormous economic and social benefits of the Internet as acritical accelerator of development for developing countries. As of2015, over 4 billion of people in the developing countries are stillwithout Internet access. (Anna.Lally, “Internet Access in DevelopingCountries—A Tool for Sustainability—The Borgen Project,”borgenproject.org, October 2018 [retrieved from www.borgenproject.org onSep. 10, 2020]; UNESCO, “The State of Broadband 2019: Broadband as aFoundation for Sustainable Development,” UNESCO Broadband Commission forSustainable Development, 2019 [retrieved fromwww.broadbandcommission.org on Sep. 10, 2020]). However, the costs andcomplexity of building radio base station network infrastructure, suchas the 5G NR radio to provide Internet access have been costly todevelop and slow to implement even in the developed countries like theUnited States.

Meanwhile Internet contents have evolved to multi-media with HD, 4K, 8K,and Retina VR/AR streaming that requires over 1 Gbps broadband access.The explosive growth has caught many by surprise including theregulatory agencies in developed countries. For example, the FCC ofUnited States still defines Internet Broadband access as 25 Mbps, whichis woefully inadequate to access the many sophisticated servicesprovided by the Internet. This broadband inadequacy not only limits thedevelopment of billions of people in developing countries it also bounds10 s of millions of Americans with fundamental economic and socialdisadvantage.

Furthermore, the focus on fixed wired broadband technologies to provideInternet access have been costly to develop and slow to implement evenin the developed countries like the United States. As of 2016, 11million homes in the US have access to less than 25 Mbps internetconnections only and over 44 million US homes have only one provideroffering greater than 25 Mbps Internet connections. In addition, the 5Gcellular network design community have failed to provide acost-effective fixed broadband access. The cost and complexity ofbuilding radio base station network infrastructure, such as the 5G NRradio, to support Fixed Wireless Broadband Internet access areenormously challenging and time consuming

The concerns of potential health issues created with large number ofthese radio base stations in city streets, business premises andresidential neighborhoods stirs social unrests further slowdown theimplementation of broadband access services to connect people who haveno access or inadequate access to essential broadband Internet services.

Consequently, there is critical need of a cost effective fixed wirelesssolution for billions of people from developing and developed countriesto connect to the Internet with adequate broadband speed quickly torealize the human development growth potential.

Meanwhile, Fortune Business Insight projected, in July 2020, theInternet-of-Things (IoT) market will grow from USD 250.72 billing in2019 to 1,463.19 billion by 2027. The explosive growth of these devicescreates tremendous challenges for Internet connectivity andcybersecurity industries to connect and secure these devices.(Micheal.Fagan, Katerina N. Megas, Karen Scarfone, Matthew Smith,“Foundational Cybersecurity Activities for IoT Device Manufacturers,”National Institute of Standards and Technology, NISTIR 8259, 2020[retrieved from www.csrc.nist.gov Sep. 10, 2020]).

Reference to the IoT is directed to a rapidly evolving and expandingcollection of diverse technologies that interact with the physicalworld. Many organizations are not aware of the large number of IoTdevices they are already using and how IoT devices may affectcybersecurity and privacy risks differently than do conventionalinformation technology (IT) devices. (Fagan et al., NISTIR 8259). Inaddition, since many of these devices are consumer-grade and costdriven, they lack basic identity management and security protectioncapabilities. While the actual projected numbers are debatable, therapid market acceptance and the potential cybersecurity risks IoTdevices introduced are undeniable.

Specifically, IoT, and the related Industrial Control System (ICS)devices, are vulnerable due to the following factors: 1) Outdatedsystems—devices are installed with undetected security exploits but lackupdate capabilities to correct known vulnerabilities; 2) Increasedconnectivity—more connected devices translate to higher risk exposures;and 3) Malware-free attacks are growing in that almost 50% ofcyberattacks as of 2019 do not rely on known malware and these attackscannot be easily identified through signatures or common Indicators ofCompromise (IoC). As new IoT and ICS devices are introduced behind FixedWireless Home Gateways they expose the Fixed Wireless Access networksand the Transactive Energy networks to complex IoT and ICS devicecybersecurity risks. Consequently, there is a large need to providesecurity for IoT and IoC devices (in this disclosure, reference to IoTdevices includes ICS devices as well).

Further, the aging fossil-based, centralized electricity infrastructureis evolving to include a distributed renewable energy supply frameworkto address both the developed and developing countries' expandingelectricity demands This change is pushing the need of a TransactiveEnergy network framework that requires secure fixed wireless accessinfrastructure capable of networking potentially millions ofgeographically disbursed energy supply and demand endpoints to the TEcore network. (Cenfura Ltd, “The Transition to Distributed Energy,”2019. [retrieved from www.cenfura.com on Sep. 10, 2020]).

The United Nations defines Energy Poverty as “the absence of sufficientchoice in accessing adequate, affordable, reliable, high-quality, safe,and environmentally benign energy services to support economic and humandevelopment.” As of 2016, 1.1 billion people do not have access toelectricity. Recent global initiatives have attempted to address suchchallenges by creating objectives to lead to sustainable energy accessfor all. India currently leads the world with regards to increasingaccess to electricity where half a billion people have gained access toelectricity since 2000. This pace has increased since 2011, with 40million people gaining access each year. The International EnergyAgency's (IEA) 2016 World Energy Outlook Report projects the growth ofTotal Primary Energy Demand from 1161 million tons of oil equivalent(Mtoe) in 2014 to between 1705-2017 Mtoe in 2025 and 2528-4049 Mtoe in2040. (International.Energy.Agency, “World Energy Outlook Special Report2017,” International Energy Agency, 2017). During that time, globalelectricity consumption is projected to increase by around 2% per year.Demand for electricity in industrializing economies outpaces renewableelectricity generation so that displacement does not occur, but energygeneration from all available sources continues to grow.

As of 2016, 1.1 billion people do not have access to electricity.-(International Energy Agency, “World Energy Outlook Special Report2017,” International Energy Agency, 2017 [retrieved from www.iea.org onSep. 10, 2020]). To address the electricity needs challenges, thefossil-based centralized electricity production infrastructure isevolving to include a distributed renewable energy supply framework.This change is pushing the need of a Transactive Energy (TE) networkframework capable of networking potentially millions of geographicallydisbursed energy supply and demand endpoints to the TE core network(Cenfura Ltd, 2019).

Meanwhile, the fossil fuel-based, centralized and hierarchical electricproduction and distribution infrastructure of the world is undergoing aradical transformation to a renewable and distributed framework drivenby the rising demand of electricity, the emergence of community focusedrenewable energy resources, the development of electrifiedtransportation, the innovation of smart grid technologies, and thederegulation of electric power markets. (Cenfura Ltd, 2019;Steffi.O.Muhanji, Alison E. Flint, and Amro M. Farid, “eIoT: TheDevelopment of the Energy Internet of Things in Energy Infrastructure,”ISBN 978-3-030-10427-6 (ebook) (Springer, 2019)). In the center of thisnew energy infrastructure is an intelligent Transactive Energy (TE)network capable of networking potentially millions of points distributedover wide geographical remote areas of supply and demand and creating anenvironment of interoperability in which every point can exchange energyinformation and thus “discuss” in real-time the value of energy at anygiven point in time or space. Using these values, supply points anddemand points can rapidly execute transactions for energy within theframework that also includes functionality required to maintain gridstability and reliability. (Cenfura Ltd, 2019)

However, the challenges involved in building these TE networks are many.The four largest challenges include 1) design and build the TE corenetworks; 2) interconnecting millions of geographically disbursed supplyand demand endpoints to the TE core network; 3) providing security andaccounting for these transactions; and 4) securing the endpoints frommalicious hackers and intruders. There is a great need to overcome thesechallenges.

Consequently, there is a need for more versatile, secure, and dynamicnetworking for providing Internet services and Transactive Energyservices.

SUMMARY

A transactive communications network according to some embodiments isdisclosed. In some embodiments, a method of receiving services at a userequipment (UE) gateway through a network includes sending a servicerequest to one or more distributed units in the network, receiving aproposed contract from each of the one or more distributed units,deciding on a winning proposed contract, notifying a winning distributedunit associated with the winning proposed contract, and connecting toreceive services through the winning distributed unit. A method ofoperating a distributed unit within a network includes receiving aservice request from a user-equipment (UE) gateway, requesting servicefrom a provider according to the service request, receiving aprovisional contract from the provider, providing a proposal with theprovisional contract to the service request to the UE gateway; and, ifnotification that the proposal is a winning proposal, arranging servicesto the UE gateway according to the proposal.

A user equipment (UE) gateway according to some embodiments includes aradio device that communicates with a network, a router, and one or moredevice interfaces. The router executes instructions to send a servicerequest to one or more distributed units in the network, receive aproposed contract from each of the one or more distributed units, decideon a winning proposed contract, notify a winning distributed unitassociated with the winning proposed contract, and connect to receiveservices through the winning distributed unit.

A distributed unit according to some embodiments includes a processingplatform coupled between a centralized unit and a radio unit in anetwork, wherein the processing platform executing instructions toreceive a service request from a user-equipment (UE) gateway, requestservice from a provider according to the service request, receive aprovisional contract from the provider, provide a proposal with theprovisional contract to the service request to the UE gateway, and, ifnotified that the proposal is a winning proposal, arrange services tothe UE gateway according to the proposal.

These and other embodiments are further discussed below with respect tothe following figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate an aspect of some embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate another aspect of some embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate another aspect of some embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate another aspect of some embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates another depiction of network as illustrated abovewith respect to FIGS. 1B, 2B, 3B, and 4B.

FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrates a distributed, secure radio-based networkaccording to some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of an end-point device, for example UEdevices, IoT devices, and energy network devices, that are used withnetworks according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D illustrate examples of network nodes such as acentral unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), radio unit (RU), and gateway(GW) according to some embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates a radio device according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D further illustrate device module depictionsthat further describe the network configuration with components asdescribed in FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example network assembled according to someembodiments.

FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 12C illustrates network processes for network repairand requesting new service in the network illustrated in FIG. 11according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 13A and 13B illustrates requesting energy services according tosome embodiments.

FIG. 14A illustrates network devices exhibiting Open ConnectivityFoundation (OCF) communications integrated with a Known CommunicationNetwork (KCN) registry according to some embodiments.

FIG. 14B illustrates the European Self-Sovereign Identity Framework(ESSIF) function overview for providing security involving IoT devices.

FIG. 14C an in-person Know-Your-Customer (KYC) versus remote KYCapproach to security according to some embodiments.

FIG. 15A illustrates security aspects in the network illustrated in FIG.11 according to some embodiments

FIG. 15B illustrates a security block as illustrated in FIG. 15A for aroot KCN registry according to some embodiments.

FIG. 16A illustrates secured links between various nodes with the rootKCN registry according to FIG. 15B and with abstracted registries orreplicated registries according to some embodiments.

FIG. 16B illustrate an example security with Blockchain registries asillustrated in FIGS. 15B and 16A with an example network as illustratedin FIG. 15A

FIG. 16C illustrates network devices exhibiting Open ConnectivityFoundation (OCF) communications integrated with a Known CommunicationNetwork (KCN) registry according to some embodiments.

FIG. 17A illustrates initiation of a distributed unit into the securitynetwork illustrated in FIG. 15A.

FIG. 17B illustrates operation of the distributed unit to register a newnetwork device according to some embodiments.

FIG. 17C illustrates power-on and onboarding of a gateway device intothe security network illustrated in FIG. 15A according to someembodiments.

FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate a process for registering and maintainingan example IoT device in the secured network environment illustrated inFIG. 15A.

FIG. 19 illustrates a multiple secure registries blockchain frameworkaccording to some embodiments.

FIGS. 20A, 20B, and 20C illustrate example configurations of a gatewayDM configuration according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 21A and 21B illustrate an example configuration of a home gatewayDM according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 21C and 21D illustrate an example configuration of amulti-dwelling gateway DM according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 21E and 21F illustrate an example configuration of an enterprisegateway DM according to some embodiments.

FIG. 22A illustrates an example distributed virtual device module (DVDM)architecture of mesh radio unit (MRU) according to some embodiments.

FIG. 22B illustrates an example DVDM architecture for a mesh distributedunit (MDU) according to some embodiments.

FIG. 22C illustrates an example DVDM architecture for a mesh centralunit (MCU) according to some embodiments.

FIGS. 23A and 23B illustrate an example DVDM architecture for a virtualtransactive energy gateway according to some embodiments.

FIG. 24A illustrates a virtual wireless radio base station (BS) networkwith integrated gateway functionality according to some embodiments.

FIG. 24B illustrates further a UE gateway according to some embodiments.

FIG. 24C illustrates data paths through a network formed from UEgateways illustrated in FIG. 24B.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example of utilization of the integratedfunctionality described with respect to FIGS. 24A and 24C.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, specific details are set forth describingsome embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent, however,to one skilled in the art that some embodiments may be practiced withoutsome or all of these specific details. The specific embodimentsdisclosed herein are meant to be illustrative but not limiting. Oneskilled in the art may realize other elements that, although notspecifically described here, are within the scope and the spirit of thisdisclosure.

This description and the accompanying drawings that illustrate inventiveaspects and embodiments should not be taken as limiting--the claimsdefine the protected invention. Various changes may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of this description and the claims.In some instances, well-known structures and techniques have not beenshown or described in detail in order not to obscure the invention.Examples are provided and discussed for illustrative purposes only.

Elements and their associated aspects that are described in detail withreference to one embodiment may, whenever practical, be included inother embodiments in which they are not specifically shown or described.For example, if an element is described in detail with reference to oneembodiment and is not described with reference to a second embodiment,the element may nevertheless be claimed as included in the secondembodiment.

This includes description of distributed network components according tosome aspects of the present invention. In particular, descriptions ofvirtual base stations and user equipment functionalities in thesedistributed network devices can allow for dynamic expansion of thenetwork. In some embodiments, the distributed virtual devices describedherein can be utilized to help address transactive energy networkconnectivity, wireless broadband Internet access, internet-of-things(IoT) connectivity, and connectivity of energy network devices.Integrated Virtual BS UE Gateways, as described further below helpaddress the Transaction Energy (TE) network connectivity, wirelessbroadband Internet access, and IoT connectivity. Additionally, aspectsof the present disclosure address the security challenges of devices inthe network. Embodiments of the present invention provide a powerfulframework to enable modular, self-organized, self-healed, transactivebroadband wireless mesh network systems, securely interconnectingmillions of connected IoT devices, including energy supply and demandendpoints, to support Transactive Energy services, fixed wirelessbroadband Internet access services, and Transactive Communicationsservices.

The embodiments of the present disclosure described below describe aRadio-Based access network architecture. The dynamic network devicesdisclosed here provide processes, systems, methods, algorithms, anddesigns for constructing a network of intelligent gateways. The networkwirelessly formed with embodiments of devices according to thisdisclosure can form a wireless broadband access network to interconnectmillions of connected devices including IoT devices, energy networkdevices including energy supply and demand endpoints such as powermeters, roaming energy network devices such as electric vehicle charges.These devices support Transactive Energy network services or TransactiveCommunication (TC) network services. Further, such a network can providesecurity for end-user IoT and other devices, Transactive Energy (TE)network services, Transactive Communication (TC) network services, andother services without expanding or constructing a separate radio basestation network.

Some embodiments according to this disclosure provide for networkdevices, processes, systems, methods, algorithms and protocols toaddress many of the issues discussed above. In particular, embodimentsof the present disclosure can provide a drastically simplified,high-performance distributed radio system that is consistent with radionetworks such as, for example, the 5G NR network architecture. Suchdevices can be used to enable a fixed wireless broadband communicationsinfrastructure to interconnect potentially millions of multi-Gbps accessendpoints securely and reliably without wired networking or providingfurther infrastructure in a Radio-Based network.

Some embodiments according to this disclosure provide for aself-organized, self-healing network. Such capabilities support securefault tolerant connectivity between connected endpoints. The meshnetwork according to some embodiments is dynamically configured intosubnets, each with specific performance parameters, serving a particularuser-specific need at a specific time. The subnet performance parametersare modified as the service needs are changed.

In addition, embodiments according to this disclosure provide forsecurity for devices connected in the network. Some aspects of thepresent invention utilize a Blockchain technology-based security screenwith identity management as recommended in Tom.Lyons, Ludovic.Courcelas,and Ken.Timsit, “Blockchain and Digital Identity: A thematic reportprepared by The European Union Blockchain Observatory and Forum,” v1.0,The European Union Blockchain Observatory and Forum, May 2019,[retrieved from www.eublockchainforum.eu on Sep. 11, 2020], and KnownCommunicators Network (KCN) registry. Such a security screen allows forsecurity of all connected devices to help address the explodingcomplexity of the IoT and other devices. The proliferation of thesedevices raises security issues for the entire network. Further,Blockchain technology can provide irrefutable transaction contractledgers wherever needed, as is further described below.

Consequently, in some embodiments a secure store and Blockchainframework that identifies and secures all connected devices isimplemented. Such a security system can include smart energy consumingendpoint devices, entertainment and communication equipment, and othersmart connected IoT devices that are part of the communications network.Some embodiments provide the capabilities to intelligently identify andcaptures all legitimate endpoints that communicates with the devicebeing secured with the Known Communicators Network (KCN) registry. Someembodiments provide for multiple subnets independently and secure fromeach other. Depending on the Quality-of-Service (QoS) requested, somesubnets can be dedicated and non-blocking while other subnets may shareresources. Embodiments may detect new subnets owned by different usersdynamically and secure all connected devices connected to each of theindependent subnets.

In some embodiments a smart device predictive profile is created andmaintained as part of the KCN registry for each of the connecteddevices. Communication activities are collected, summarized and storedin the smart predictive profile for each of the connected device. Theseprofiles are abstracted and collected over time in distributed units andcentralized units. Machine Learning can be employed to analyze thecollected communication activities to characterize the communicationprofile of each connected device, to assess the security risks ofcommunication activities, and to predict future legitimate communicationactivities expected from specific connected device.

The Blockchain security framework can provide irrefutable transactioncontract ledger capabilities for various types of transactions betweenend-point users and service provider entities. For example, thetransaction contract ledger can facilitate Power Purchase Agreements(PPA) and Transactive Energy (TE) transactions between potentiallymillions of energy demand endpoint devices and multiple fast-growingrenewable energy producers. It also provides irrefutable transactioncontract ledger for Transactive Communications (TC) services. Further,such transaction ledgers can be used to arrange bandwidth arrangementsto end point users or gateways.

Embodiments of networks according to this disclosure provide for anarchitecture framework to construct logically self-contained network ofDevice Module (DM)s and to interconnect and manage multiple DM's intopowerful coherent network products rapidly. These DM's may be logical orphysical entities incorporated into various networked components. Insome examples, multiple DM's can be integrated on the same platform(e.g., a single PCB board, computer system, or other device) which canbe locally attached to a core system or network device. In someembodiments, DM's can be distributed remotely across several networkdevices to form virtual DMs that can be managed as an integral part ofthe resulting system and operated virtually on one or more networkeddevices.

These DM's can be specialized to offload cloud-based processing, such asspeech recognition. In so doing unparalleled privacy can be provided toa user using voice assistance services such as Google home and AmazonAlexa. Where all the speech recognition and processing are done andcontrolled locally in a DM on a home gateway, the process can be keptprivate.

Another potential application is to have a specialized storage DM tostore and captured videos from home security cameras locally controlledas part of the home gateway and remotely accessed from a cloudapplication. This arrangement not only provides a level of privacy notavailable currently to the user and also eliminates the Internet accessbandwidth needed to stream captured video from the camera to the cloudand the storage needed in the cloud to store the captured video. Thismay translate to monthly subscription savings for the user. Furthermore,large database end users may perform processing on the data locally,reducing data transmission costs.

The Integrated Virtual BS UE Gateways architecture according to someembodiments of this disclosure is a collection of DMs. As discussedabove, the DMs refer to methods, algorithms, protocols and systems thatoperate on various network devices to integrate the network systemdescribed here. These DMs, therefore, are designed to integrate RadioUnits (RU), Distributed Units (DU), and Centralized Units (CU), into aUE gateway.

In some embodiments, and used as an example below, examples are providedthat are consistent with the 5G NR access network referencearchitecture. DMs can be provided that are consistent with other networkprotocols as well, for example the 2G/3G/4G LTE network or otherwireless networks.

As is further described below, these Integrated UE Gateways formself-organized, self-healed, dynamic access networks to supportsophisticated Energy Network services along with fixed wirelessbroadband Internet access services. All accomplished without addition tothe traditional physical radio base station network infrastructures.Such systems accelerate the deployment of secure energy andcommunications infrastructures to previously difficult to reach ruraland urban locations worldwide rapidly and cost effectively. Further,such systems also enable rapid availability of high bandwidth (100Mbpsor higher) alternatives to millions of existing Internet users currentlyoperating with sub-optimal access speed in developed countries such asthe USA or underdeveloped countries.

The Virtual BS UE Gateway network devices described below providesbroadband Internet access network services without the burden ofbuilding additional traditional radio base station networkinfrastructure. Such an arrangement allows for easy expansion ofnetworks to accommodate further subscribers in a secured network.

The following terms and definitions defined in Table I are used in thisdisclosure.

TABLE I Terms and Definitions Term Definition Communications Acommunications purchase agreement (CPA), Purchase or a communicationstransmission agreement, Agreement is a contract between two parties, onewhich provides the communications transmission service (the seller) andone which is looking to purchase the communications transmission service(the buyer) Fixed Wireless Fixed Wireless Broadband is atelecommunications broadband technology that provides high-speedwireless Internet access or computer networking access to fixedlocations over a wide area. Power Purchase A power purchase agreement(PPA), or electricity Agreement power agreement, is a contract betweentwo parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one whichis looking to purchase electricity (the buyer) Transactive Similar toTransactive Energy, Transactive Communications Communications is asystem of economic and control mechanisms that allow the dynamic balanceof supply and demand across the entire communications infrastructureusing value as a key operational parameter. Transactive “A system ofeconomic and control mechanisms Energy that allows the dynamic balanceof supply and demand across the entire electrical infrastructure usingvalue as a key operational parameter.” (U.S. Department of Energy, NIST)Voice Assistant Voice Assistant uses speech recognition to understandspoken commands and answer questions, and typically text to speech toplay a reply.

The following abbreviations and acronyms illustrated in Table II may beused in this disclosure.

TABLE II Abbreviations and Acronyms Abb. Acronym Definition AFHSSAdaptive Frequency Hoping Spread Spectrum AMI Advanced MeterInfrastructure AR Augmented Reality BAD Behavioral Anomaly Detection BERBit Error Rate BS Base Station BW Bandwidth CPE Customer-PremisesEquipment CU Centralized Unit DDoS Distributed Denial of Services DFEDigital Front End DM Device Module DSI Distributed Secure Instantcommunication DU Distributed Unit DVDM Distributed Virtual Device ModuleEN Energy Node EP Energy Producer network edge device EV ElectricVehicle FSK Frequency Shift Keying FWA Fixed Wireless Access FWMA FixedWireless Mesh broadband Access GW Gateway HD High Definition HG HomeGateway ICS Industrial Control System IDW Integrated Dynamic WirelessIEA International Energy Agency IoC Indicators of Compromise IoTInternet of Things IMC Instant Mesh Client IMG Instant Mesh Gateway IMRInstant Mesh Router IMCU Instant! Mesh Centralized Unit IMDU Instant!Mesh Distributed Unit IMRU Instant Mesh Radio Unit IPR IntellectualProperty Rights iRoE Instant radio over RoE KYC Know Your Customers KCNKnown Communicators Network kWh Kilo Watt Hour LAN Local Area NetworkMAC Media Access Control MCU Mesh Centralized Unit MD Memory Device MDUMesh Distributed Unit MEC Multi-access Edge Computing MRU Mesh RadioUnit Mtoe Million tones of oil equivalent MU-MIMO Multi-User, MultipleInput, Multiple Output NIST National Institute of Standards andTechnology NW Network OCF Open Communications Foundation OpenADR OpenAutomated Demand Response P2P Point-to-Point P2MP Point-to-MultipointPDCP Packet Data Converging Protocol PHY Physical Layer PM Power MeterPoC Proof of Concept PPA Power Purchase Agreement QoS Quality of ServiceRAN Radio Access Network RBS Radio Base Station RLC Radio Link ControlRoE Radio over Ethernet RRC Radio Resource Control RRM Radio ResourceManagement RU Radio Unit SDR Software Defined Radio SFWA Secured FixedWireless Access VSDM Virtual Super Device Module TC TransactiveCommunications TE Transactive Energy UE User Equipment UI User InterfaceUN United Nations USPTO United States Patent and Trademark Office VRVirtual Reality VSPM Virtual Super Secure Power Meter WAN Wide AreaNetwork

The disclosure below refers to network devices with particularfunctionality. It is understood that, in accordance with embodiments ofthe present invention, multiple functionalities may be integrated withina single physical platform or may be distributed across multipleplatforms and either virtually or physically interconnected. Inparticular, the logical radio BS network functionality is distributedacross Radio Units (RUs), Distributed Units (DUs), and Centralized Units(CUs) entities consistent with and compatible to the 5G Openradio-access network (RAN) architecture, for example. At a high level,the RU handles the digital front end and the parts of the physicallayer, for example digital beamforming In particular, a RU transmits andreceives network traffic using radio. A DU usually sits close to the RUand handles real-time scheduling for data traffic amongst other tasks. ACU connects to the Internet services and manages and consolidates thetraffic from a cluster of DUs. A logical Radio BS is assembled byconnecting a CU, a DU, and an RU together. A logical User Equipment (UE)gateway connects all user connected devices, such as IoT and ICSdevices, and provides a common access point funneling user communicationtraffic upstream to and downstream from the Internet. In accordance withsome embodiments, an integrated BS UE gateway implements a logical RadioBS and a logical UE in the same gateway equipment. Gateways can alsointeract with other gateways.

As is further discussed below, network components exchange data via datapackets. The structure of the data packets, as well as how the networkmodulates the packets into radio signals, is determined by theparticular standard that the network implements (e.g., the 5G new radio(NR) standard). The structure of the packets and the modulations used tophysically transmit packets between devices is standard dependent andone skilled in the art will know to consult particular standards forthat description.

FIG. 1A illustrates a conventional network 100 that includes aradio-based component. Network 100 as illustrated in FIG. 1A providesinternet connectivity from internet 102. Some subscribers, such as userequipment (UE) 116 installed within a structure, may be physicallyconnected to an internet node 102, for example with hard wires, opticallinks, combination of hard and optical links. However, several radionetwork base stations (BSs) may also be used in point-to-point (P2P) orpoint-to-multipoint (P2MP) communications with UEs. In FIG. 1A, forexample, radio base station 110, which has a radio unit (RU), is coupledbetween internet 102 and UE 108; radio base station 112 is coupledbetween internet 102 and UE 114; and radio base station 104 is coupledbetween internet 102 and UE 106. However, this provides for a rigidstructure that is difficult to expand and upgrade.

FIG. 1B illustrates a network 150 according to some embodiments of thepresent invention. Network 150 demonstrates a virtual radio BS networkwith on-demand P2P connections. As is illustrated in FIG. 1B, UE 134 andUE 128 are coupled directly to internet services 102 without a RU BS.However, UE 134 and UE 128 execute a virtual network with a UE gateway(GW) to which other UE gateways can be connected. UE gateways 136, 138,and 140 are connected to UE gateway 134, for example. UE gateway 130 and132 are connected to UE gateway 128 that executes a virtual radionetwork. There is still available for a RU BS. As illustrated in FIG.1B, RU BS 120 provides network services to UE 122. As is furtherillustrated, UE 122 can execute a virtual BS with home GW to which UEs124 and 126 can be connected. Several layers of connectivity can beimplemented so that network 150 can continue to grow dynamically.

The implementation of network 150 can eliminate, or supplement, thetraditional BS based network. As such, it may reduce the time to marketand reduce the costs of deploying a network. As illustrated in thedeployment of network 150 illustrated in FIG. 1B, embodiments of thepresent disclosure can virtualize the radio BS network and integrate theBS with a UE GWs to provide a mesh network to extend the reach ofnetwork 150 in a dynamic way. A single radio can be used for UE uplink,while virtual RU uplinks and virtual RU downlinks can be used to serveneighboring UEs.

Further, common (>6 dBi MIMO) antenna systems can serve as endpoints (inFIG. 1B, these are, for example, UEs 130 and 132, UEs 136, 138, 140, orUEs 124 and 126). The radios can be driven with different output powerfor point-to-point (P2P) and point-to-multipoint (P2MP) operations whennecessary. Radio modules may be added to enhance capacity. For example,in the 5G new radio regime, unlicensed-national informationinfrastructure (U-NII) antennas may be used. U-NII-1 and U-NII-3 spectra(Max Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP)<53 dBm) for P2Pconnections in remote endpoints and UNII-3 and UNII-7 spectrum (MaxEIRP=36 dBm) for P2MP connections to all other endpoints may be used.U-NII standards are set by the standard IEEE 802.11a are defined inTable III below.

TABLE III IEEE 802.11a U-NII antennas Freq. Band- Range width Max. Max.Band (GHz) (MHz) Power EIRP U-NII Low/U-NII- 5.150-5.250 100  50 mW 200mW 1/U-NII Indoor U-NII Mid/U-NII-2A 5.250-5.350 100 250 mW 1 W U-NII-2B5.350-5.470 120 — — U-NII Wordwide/ 5.470-5.725 255 250 mW 1 WU-NII-2C/U-NII Extended/U-NII-2e U-NII Upper/U-NII-3 5.725-5.850 125 1 W200 W  DSRC/.ITS/U-NII-4 5.850-5.925  75 U-NII-5 5.925-6.425 500 U-NII-66.425-6.525 100 U-NII-7 6.525-6.875 350 U-NII-8 6.875-7.125 250

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate another aspect of the present invention. Asillustrated in FIG. 2A, in network 100 as illustrated in FIG. 1A, eachUE has a fixed bandwidth subscription. FIG. 2A illustrates a graph 200of bandwidth requirements versus time for a typical end user. FIG. 2Afurther illustrates a bandwidth usage 204 in comparison with a fixedbandwidth limit 202. Broadband internet services are typically pricedbased on fixed bandwidth 202. The user cannot exceed fixed bandwidth 202and, if reached, streaming and other services may be negativelyaffected. Alternatively, if the user does not use the fixed bandwidth202, the user is paying for bandwidth that they are not using.

This type of pricing and billing structure used in current broadbandinternet services is neither fair to the consumers nor desirable fornetwork operators. As illustrated in FIG. 2A, for the majority of times,the consumer only uses a fraction of the maximum bandwidth to which theyhave subscribed. At other times, the user applications (e.g. AR/VR videostreaming) requires bandwidths higher than the maximum bandwidth 202 ofthe subscription, resulting in poor application performance. From thenetwork operator's perspective, the maximum bandwidth-based pricingrequires that the network capacity be built to ensure that network 100can deliver enough bandwidth capacity to handle peak demand periods asdefined by the subscription services. This results in a majority oftimes where network 100 is overbuilt and the network 100 is left idled.Further, there are no obvious tools available to the network operator toencourage consumers to shift network usage to off-peak demand periods.

In the energy industry, electricity services are typically priced on theamount of electricity (watt-hrs.) that are typically used. There mayalso be time-of-day pricing so that the price of the electricity ismodified as to when it is actually used. This type of pricing, variablebilling based on usage as well as peak-power-demand leveling, can beused in the internet bandwidth area as well.

FIG. 2B illustrates a graph 210 of bandwidth 204 as billed according tosome embodiments according to this disclosure. In particular, bandwidthcan be supplied, as well as billed, according to user actual usagerather than a fixed bandwidth 202. Further, operators can providebilling to enable peak demand leveling to minimizes the need tooverbuild network capacity. Operators, therefore, can provide bandwidth206 in accordance with a user demand (and bill accordingly).

Consequently, as illustrated in FIGS. 1B and 2B, a dynamic meshtransactive communications network is presented that includes one ormore gateways, each gateway configured to couple with one or more othergateways over a radio link; one or more mesh distributed units coupledto at least one of the one or more gateways through radio links; and amesh centralized unit coupled through radio links to the one or moremesh distributed units, the mesh centralized unit coupled to a upstreamcloud network. The network can include dynamic transactivecommunications per-user subnets, each of the subnets configured with oneor more connections each with specific performance parameters accordingto a user's specific needs. The network may further be formed where alink between each of the one or more gateways and the dynamic meshtransactive communications network is self-organized and self-healingagainst link faults. In some embodiments, the network is self-optimized.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrates another aspect of the present invention.More and more cost-sensitive devices are being deployed. Such devicesinclude any device that includes internet connectivity and exchange dataor receive instructions from an internet service in cloud services 102.As is used in this disclosure, several end-point devices can beconnected to the network. These devices may be referred to as userequipment devices (smart phones, laptops, computers), IoT devices(cameras, thermostats, smart example IP cameras, smart thermostats,smart TVs, smart refrigerators, or any other device that exchangesinformation with internet- based services), energy network devices(power meters or other devices that monitor or control energy usage), orroaming energy network devices (electric vehicle charging systems andother such devices). Consequently, in this disclosure an end-pointdevice refers to any device that communicates with an internet-basedservice through the network.

FIG. 3A illustrates a current typical IoT device environment 300. Asillustrated in FIG. 3A, a gateway (GW) 302 is connected to the internet102. IoT devices 304, 306, 308, and 310 are coupled through GW 302 tointernet 102. Such an arrangement as illustrated in FIG. 3A provides acomplex IoT security threat landscape. The current “seek out and fix allthe bad actors” approach is proving ineffective to protectcost-sensitive connected IoT devices from being infiltrated.

FIG. 3B illustrates an arrangement 320 according to some embodiments. Asillustrated in FIG. 3B, IoT devices 324, 326, 328, and 330. Asillustrated in FIG. 3B, a security shield 332 is implemented on the homegateway 322. Security shield 332 may implement a blockchain securityprotocol. Such a protocol can provide device identities, contractledgers, and a communications network lockdown. This provides securityprotection for vulnerable IoT devices and locks the communicationsnetwork down to minimize the hackable footprint.

The system illustrated in FIG. 3B implementing a security shield 332according to some embodiments can be focused on securing vulnerable IoTdevices such as IoT devices 324, 326, 328, and 330 illustrated in FIG.3B. Providing a blockchain security shield in addition to standardsecurity practices between each protected IoT device and the internet102 can providing unique identities to each of the connected devices.Further, security shield 332 can track activity of the device bycreating a Known Communicators Networks (KCN) registry for each deviceand raise alarm when an unknown entity (e.g. a hacker) is trying tocommunicate with the device or the device is trying to communicate withan unknown entity (e.g. a distributed denial of service (DDoS) victim).As part of the KCN registry, a smart predictive device profile can beincluded for each of the protected devices. Further, security shield 332can provide a contract ledger to enable consumers to purchase and trackservices (e.g. buying a movie stream, buying electricity for charging acar) with protected devices.

In addition to the issues involving IoT devices as illustrated in FIG.3B, another aspect of the present disclosure is enhancing and securingthe interface of other types of end-point devices, including smart powermeters, to internet 102. As part of the smart grid evolution effort, thepower industry has spent billions of dollars creating an Advanced MeterInfrastructure (AMI). As part of the AMI, a large portion of electricalmeters have been upgraded to smart meters. FIG. 4A illustrates thepresent smart power meter network 400. As illustrated in FIG. 4A,subscribers 402, 406, 410, and 414 each have smart power meters 404,408, 412, and 416, respectively, that are coupled to the internet 102.However, not all of the smart power meters 404, 408, 412, and 416 havethe same capability. Some power meters come with fixed capabilities thatcannot be upgraded. Some meters include restrictive processing power andsupport only limited feature sets. Many other meters do not haveadequate security protections. These different in capabilities in smartpower meters makes the management and security of these meters verychallenging.

FIG. 4B illustrates a smart meter network 420 according to someembodiments of this disclosure. In accordance with some embodiments,each power meter is coupled to a Virtual Super Device Module (VSDM),which implements a Virtual Super Secure Power Meter (VSPM). Asillustrated in FIG. 4B, the home gateway on subscriber 422 is coupledthrough VSDM 424 to a power meter 426; the gateway on subscriber 428 iscoupled through VSDM 430 to power meter 432; the gateway on subscriber434 is coupled through VSDM 436 to power meter 438; and the gateway onsubscriber 440 is coupled through VSDM 442 to power meter 444. Each ofVSDMs 424, 430, 436, or 442 can be implemented as a VSPM with powermeters. VSDMs can provide the security and management support fordevices such as power meters 426, 432, 438, and 444 as illustrated inFIG. 4B. In particular, the VSDMs can be used to create VSPM twins inthe home gateway to supplement and upgrade all connected electric metersto provide many of the important smart meter features such as, forexample, a Security Shield as discussed above, over-the-air softwareupgrades, or local processing of meter data. These VSPM digital twinsprovide a uniform view for all protected power meters in network 420,simplifying the management, protection, and upgrade of those powermeters regardless of the capabilities of the individual power meter.Consequently, the need to physically upgrade the existing power metersis minimized.

FIG. 5 illustrates a depiction of a cluster network 500 according tosome embodiments. As illustrated in FIG. 5, distributed virtual devicemodules (DVDMs) CU1 502, CU2 506, and CU3 504 are coupled to internet102 through a backbone 532, which for example may be an optical fibernetwork, a radio network, a wired network (e.g., twisted wire or coax),a satellite network, or a combination of these networks. DVDMs CU1 502,CU2 506, and CU3 504 may represent a network of various radio BScomponents (CUs in combination with DUs, RUs, and GWs) that are combinedin independent, self-contained devices that may be geographicallydistributed and interacting to execute aspects of this disclosure. ADVDM, for example, can include a collection of networked GWs and otherdevices to extend service, may refer to a GW with DMs distributed acrossa particular location, or may include any other arrangement of networkdevices.

As is illustrated in FIG. 5, CU1 502 manages a cluster 528 that includesdevices 516, 518, and 520 to service UE GWs 508 and 510. CU2 506 managesa cluster 530 that includes devices 522, 524, and 526 to service UE GWs512 and 514. CU3 504 can service either cluster 528 or cluster 530, asneeded. For example, CU1 502 with DU1 518 (which may also include a RU)forms a BS to serve UE1 510. DU2 520 and CU3 504 may be included in bothcluster 528 and cluster 530. DU2 520 is part of cluster 528 and ismanaged by CU1 502. However, if CU1 502 fails, then CU3 504 can takeover and service UE1 510 and UE 508 through DU2 520. If both CU1 502 andCU3 504 fail, then CU2 506 can take over cluster 528 through DU2 520. IfCU2 506 does not have sufficient capacity, then cluster 1 528 can split,partly served by CU2 506 and the rest served by other CUs not shown inFIG. 5.

As is illustrated in FIG. 5, DVDMs 502, 504, and 506 may further becoupled to other DVDMs or GWs, which may also include DMs. As isunderstood, a DVDM can represent a gateway (home gateway, multi-dwellinggateway, or enterprise gateway) or a UE device. As illustrated in FIG.5, DVDM DU1 518 is coupled to User Equipment Gateways (UE/GWs) 510 and508 and, for example, DVDM 524 is coupled to UE/GWs 512 and 514. Thesedevices can be further coupled to a number of UEs, IoTs, energy devices,or other end-point devices, as is further discussed below.

Consequently, as described above, network 500 represents a redundantoverlapping network. This results in redundant access to internet 102through backbone 532 and devices CU1 502, CU3 504, and CU2 506 servicingoverlapping clusters 528 and 530. Further, there are redundant virtualBS radios driving in-home WiFi hotspots at each of UE/GWs 508, 510, 512,and 514.

Table IV below illustrates functionalities of an integrated BS UEgateway serving a TE network according to some embodiments. Inparticular, advanced antenna systems, WiFi radio, Radio Unit (RU)interface, and 10G-PON Fiber Interface are communications DeviceModules. UE client, distributed unit (DU), centralized unit (CU),in-home WiFi, transitive energy (TE) network (NW) interface, SecuredFixed Wireless Access (SFWA) management, and Virtual Super Power Meterare Application Device Modules. DVDM management, mesh routing,blockchain security, and dynamic bandwidth management are SystemResource Device Modules. As illustrated, DVDM CUs 502, 504, and 506illustrated in FIG. 5 can all be constructed with Device Modules asillustrated in Table IV. The functional distribution between CU, DU, RU,and UE network entities can be consistent with the 5G Open RAN accessnetwork architecture as summarized in E. Jordan, “Open RAN 101-RU, DU,CU Why, what, how, when?,” 8 Jul. 2020 [retrieved fromhttps://www.rerwirelss.com/20200708/open_ran/open-ran-101-ru-du-cu-reader-forumon Aug. 8, 2020].

TABLE IV Integrated Virtual BS UE TE/Gateway Functionality RedundantVirtual BS/UE Gateway 8 × 8:8 Beamforming 8 × 8:8 Beamforming MU-MIMOMU-MIMO High Gain AAS High Gain AAS WiFi 6E 8 × 8:8 radio WiFi 6E 8 ×8:8 Radio 10G-PON Fiber Interface Gateway Applications UE Client DUApplications In-Home WiFi Hotspot CU Applications TE NW Interface SFWANW Management SVDM DSI Dynamic Virtual DM Mesh Router BlockchainSecurity (KCN) Dynamic Bandwidth CU

As is understood throughout the disclosure, an integrated BS UE gateway(virtual radio BS UE gateway, UE/GW, home gateway, Gateway, GW or othersuch designation) refers to an equipment that comprise of twoentities: 1) a UE entity which, when present and activated, connects allconnected devices such as smart entertainment devices, computers, smartphones and connected IoTs devices such as security cameras, smartthermostats, and smart power meters through a radio upstream to avirtual radio BS in a wireless access network; and 2) a virtual radio BSentity which, when present and activated, acts as a radio BS in awireless access network, connects downstream to other integrated radioBS UE gateways. A virtual radio BS entity may contain a Radio Unit (RU),a Distributed Unit (DU), and a Central Unit (CU). In addition, anintegrated BS UE gateway can refer to a home gateway device, amulti-dwelling unit gateway device, an enterprise gateway device, or anetwork gateway device. In some embodiments, as is discussed furtherbelow, gateway devices can provide value-added services to devicesattached to the gateway device as well as providing services todownstream gateway devices that are coupled to it.

When needed, radio units, distributed units (DU), and centralized units(CU) in selected integrated BS UE gateways can be activated andconfigured into virtual radio BSs to form or extend fixed wirelessaccess network rapidly without a traditional radio BS networkinfrastructure. Consequently, the highly redundant and dynamic networkas illustrated here provides for a dynamic distributed network that cangrow easily without traditional large infrastructure investments.

FIG. 6A illustrates an example radio-based network 600 according to someembodiments that includes a UE gateway 614. As is illustrated in FIG.6A, UE gateway 614 can be coupled by radio links to multiple RUs, ofwhich RUs 610 and 612 are illustrated. RU 610 is illustrated as beingconnected through DU 606, which is connected to CU 604. RU 612 isconnected through DU 608 to CU 604. CU 604 is coupled to administerInternet and Transactive Energy services from services 602. In someembodiments, CUs, DUs, and RUs can be co-located at one site. As isfurther discussed below, DMs may be distributed across GWs, RUs, DUs,and CUs to facility operation of the network.

Although there are multiple ways of splitting the networkingfunctionality between network nodes, it is generally considered that theRU handles the digital front end and the parts of the physical layer ordigital beamforming In particular, the RU transmits and receives networktraffic using radio. The DU usually sits close to the RU and handlesreal-time scheduling for data traffic. Operation of the DU is handled bythe CU, which is an edge unit and often is located at the cloud-baseddata center to connect with Internet services. As discussed above, theCU can control the operation of several DUs. In a radio network, each ofCU and DU can include RUs for transmission of network data.

As is understood throughout the disclosure, a UE gateway (UE, GW, UE/GWor other such designation) generally refers to a user owned and operatedgateway device. Gateways refer to user-based systems that receive andtransmit data through the network. In accordance with some embodiments,gateways interact with other gateways and end-point devices such asIoTs, UEs, and PMs. The gateway device can refer to a home installationgateway device, a multi-dwelling gateway device, or an enterprisegateway device. In some embodiments, as is discussed further below,gateway devices can interact with devices attached to the gateway deviceas well as providing service to downstream gateway devices that arecoupled to it.

FIG. 6B illustrates a mesh network 650 that can be formed dynamicallyfrom UE/GW 614. As is illustrated in FIG. 6B, UE/GW 616 can be coupledby radio link with UE/GW 614. Also, UE/GW 618 can be coupled by radiolink with UE/GW 614. Other UE/GW devices can be dynamically incorporatedinto network 650. Of each UE/GW, a number of devices can be coupled bywireless, radio link, or wired link to each of the UE/GWs. Asillustrated in FIG. 6B, UE/GW 614 can be coupled to a UE 618. UE/GW 618can be coupled to IoTs 626 and 628. UE/GW 616 can be coupled to a PowerMeter PM 620, a UE 622, and an IoT 624. All of these devices areconnected to internet services through UE/GW 614 with potentiallymultiple paths through CU 604 as illustrated in FIG. 6A.

As is illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B, virtual DMs according to aspectsof the present invention can be implemented on UE/GW 614 and distributedacross other network devices to perform functions as discussed in thisdisclosure. Integrated DMs can be included in UE/GW 614 with supportfrom Internet services 602. In some embodiments, UE/GW 614 may implementa secured environment using a Blockchain framework. Such a system cansecure all devices connected with UE/GW 614 with Known CommunicatorsNetwork (KCN) registries and supports irrefutable ledgers for servicecontracts. The Known Communicators Network registries with smartpredictive device profiles can be stored on the UE/GW devices and mayfurther be abstracted on other upstream network devices, for example DU606, DU 608, and CU 604.

The dynamic secure networks 600 and 650 as illustrated in FIGS. 6A and6B can be applied in many network applications. For example, networksaccording to embodiments as described herein can be useful for IoTsecurity and data security (e.g. Big Data Privacy) and is applicable tonetworks that use satellite communication, fiber networks, mobilecellular, fixed wireless. Further, services such as Transactive Energyor Transactive Communications can be supported through such networks.

As discussed above, one skilled in the art will recognize that data istransmitted between devices in networks 600 and 650 using data packetsthat are defined by the particular protocols that are being deployed inareas of the network. For example, data may be transmitted between CU604, DUs 606 and 608, RUs 610 and 612, and UE/GW 614 using data packetsas defined by the radio protocols (e.g., 5G NR). Data transmittedbetween a UE, IoT, or power meter PM and a UE/GW component may begoverned by wireless transmission protocols, ethernet protocols, orother protocols that are in use.

In some embodiments according to this disclosure, each CU, DU, RU, andUE/GW illustrated in a radio network such as the radio networks 600 and650 as illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B may be a distributed radio-basednetwork design that supports multi-Gigabit per second data rate withself-organized, self-healed mesh network techniques. Like traditionalmesh networks, each radio network node (CU, DU, RU, or UE/GW) assumesdistinct mesh gateway, mesh router, and mesh client roles. However, asdiscussed further below, unlike traditional mesh networks, the networktopology can be dynamically reconfigured to create mesh subnets thatachieve specific communications bandwidth and other performancecharacteristics. These reconfigurations can be based on transactivecommunications connection agreements between service providers and theend users. These mesh subnets, that include one or more transactivecommunications connections, may dynamically expand and contract,effectively delivering the communications bandwidth with the specificperformance to where and when each of the mesh client requires for aperiod of time specified in the transaction agreement.

As is further discussed below, Blockchain security may be institutedwith a Known Communicators Network (KCN) registry, kept in a securestore, can identify and secure all connected devices. These connecteddevices can include smart energy device endpoints (PMs), entertainmentand communications equipment, and smart IoT devices. TheBlockchain-based contract ledger capability facilitates three-way securePower Purchase Agreement contracts between an energy producer endpointand energy demand endpoint devices, such as an Electric Vehicle (EV)charger and a HVAC air conditioner, via a Transactive Energy network.The same capabilities also enable other secure transaction contractsbetween interested parties such as communications service providers andcommunications services consuming devices such as a 4K TV streaming 4Kvideo, or a high-performance gaming PC running an AR network game, or asecurity camera uploading collected video footage, via a TransactiveCommunications network.

A Distributed Virtual Device Module (DVDM) architecture frameworkimplemented across all of the network nodes (CUs, DUs, RUs, andgateways) facilitates the interconnection and management of multipleself-contained Device Modules into powerful coherent products rapidly.These DM's may be logical or physical entities. They can be softwareonly DM's, DM's with integrated software and hardware components, DM'sintegrated on the same PCB board, DM's locally attached to a core systemor DM's distributed remotely but managed as an integral part of aproduct system.

FIG. 7 illustrate an example end-point device 700 such as, for example,User Equipment (UE) 618 and 622, Internet-of-Things (IoT) 624, 626, 628,and Power Meters (PM) 62 as illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B, for example.One skilled in the art will understand that mesh network 650 may supportany number of end-point devices such as device 700.

End-point device 700 as illustrated in FIG. 7 may represent, forexample, a user equipment, an IoT device, an energy network device, or aroaming energy network device. User equipment can be, for example, acell phone, a home computer (laptop or desktop), smart TV, gamingconsole, wearables (e.g., smart watches, medical wearables). IoT devicesinclude internet capable and controllable appliances such as smart doorlocks, lighting components, wall switches, thermostats, vacuums, videodoorbells, video monitoring, garage door openers, water heaters,sprinkler systems, smart refrigerators, or other home appliances. Anenergy network device can include, for example, a power meter includingan internet capable and controllable smart power meter that monitors andreports power usage of a particular site. A roaming energy device caninclude, for example, an EV charger and the EV. FIG. 7 is a generalizeddiagram and may not include all of the elements illustrated or mayinclude elements not illustrated. However, end-point device 700 isillustrated for reference in describing interactions with embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, end-point device 700 includes a processor 704coupled to a memory 702. Memory 702 includes any form of data storage,including both volatile and non-volatile memory that stores instructionsand data used by processor 708, removable storage such as solid-statememory drives, memory sticks, memory cards, disks, tapes or otherstorage devices. As is further illustrated, processor 704 may be coupledto a user interface 706. User interface 706 can include any number ofuser input or display devices, including touch-screens, video displays,indicator lights, keyboards, ball-type pointer devices, gaming inputdevices, microphones, speakers, or any other device that facilitatescommunications between end-point device 700 and a user. Processor 704 isfurther coupled to a data transceiver driver 710 that provides datapacket framing and other services to provide for network communications,in particular local area wireless 712, wired networks 714, or radionetwork services 716. Wireless transceiver 712 is coupled to antenna 718and is capable of coupling with a wireless network. As such, wirelesstransceiver 712 can include, for example, a WiFi transceiver, Bluetoothor Bluetooth Low-Energy transceiver, ZigBee or other transceiverscapable of wireless communications under any protocol. Radio transceiver716 is, for example, the cell-phone transceiver and may operate underany of the radio communications protocol, for example 5G NR, 4G, 3G, 2G,LTE, or other radio communications protocol as discussed elsewhere inthis disclosure. Radio transceiver 716 is coupled to antenna 720.Furthermore, data transceiver driver 710 can be further coupled totransceiver 714 that can, for example, include optical couplers (e.g. IRoptical communications), USB, acoustic or other interface ports, or anydevice supporting other communications protocols. As discussed above, aparticular end-point device may not include all of these interfaces.Further, in some cases (e.g., IoT devices, PMs, etc.) user interface 706may be very simple or not included.

Processor 704, in some devices 700, can be coupled to an applianceinterface 708. If end-point device 700 is an IoT device, for example,appliance interface 708 provides interfacing and control for the IoTappliance, which exchange information with cloud-based services formonitoring and control. If end-point device 700 is a power meter, forexample, appliance interface 708 can receive power monitoring signalsand, in some devices, provide control signals to power using devicesthat are monitored by power monitoring signal.

For IoT functionality, appliance interface 708 may include sensor blocksand control circuits for controlling an appliance coupled to applianceinterface 708. Appliance interface 708 may include any analog-front-endcircuitry required to digitize analog sensor signals and drivers forcontrolling the appliance. For example, in a smart thermostat applianceinterface 708 includes one or more temperature sensors and one or morerelays to switch on and off furnaces and air-conditioning units tocontrol the temperatures sensed by the one or more temperature sensors.In a smart television, appliance interface 708 may receive signals froma light sensor, control circuit for adjusting the brightness, andcircuitry to receive and provide streaming digital video signals to thetelevision. Consequently, appliance interface 708 depends on thefunctionality of appliance of the appliance.

For smart meter operation, appliance interface 708 may be used tocollect data on power usage, arrange for transactive energy contracts,and provide control of the power usage to allow for time-shifted usage.For example, in combination with an EV charger, some examples ofend-pint device 700 may shift charging function to account for times oflow power costs. End-point device 700, consequently, is oftencontrollable through Internet services and may provide data for analysisby those Internet services.

Processor 704 can be one or more of a microcomputer, microcontroller,microprocessor, ASIC, or other computational circuit capable ofexecuting instructions stored in memory 702 to perform the functions asdescribed in this disclosure. As is further illustrated in FIG. 7,memory 702 can store instructions and data for various user-downloadedapplications, WiFi connectivity, Radio Communications, phone services,device specific applications, user data storage, or any otherapplication for execution on end-point device 700. Many applicationsstored in memory 702 may use Internet services that are accessed throughradio transceiver 712 or through wireless interface 710. In particular,end-point device 700 may be coupled to a UE/GW as described above foraccess to internet services through a network such as network 600, forexample. As illustrated in FIG. 7, memory 702 can include instructionsfor user applications, phone services, device functionality and devicespecific applications, user data storage, network connectivity, devicedata storage, and local networking (e.g., WiFi connectivity, ethernet,USB, IR, acoustic, etc.).

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D illustrate examples of network componentsaccording to some embodiments that are used in radio-based networks.Many examples presented here are applicable to the 5G NR network,however embodiments of the present disclosure can be used in anyprotocol radio network. As such, the network is structured into RadioUnit (RU), Distributed Unit (DU), and Centralized Unit (CU) components.RU, DU, and CU components can be combined into self-contained DeviceModules (DM), as described below. In particular, a radio Base Station(BS) can be formed from a combination of RU, DU, and CU functionality,which may itself be spatially distributed over large distances. Althoughoften, in conventional systems, connections between CU, DU, and RUcomponents can be wired, which presents significant challenges fordeployment in developed countries or rural areas. FIG. 8A illustrates anexample embodiment of a CU, FIG. 8B illustrates an example embodiment ofa DU, FIG. 8C illustrates an example embodiment of a RU, and FIG. 8Dillustrates an example embodiment of a gateway (GW) that provide variousaspects of network connectivity to UEs and other devices.

FIG. 8A illustrates a CU 800 according to some embodiments. CU 800 is anedge component that is connected to the cloud 810 (backhaul). Thefunctional requirements of CU 800 may be defined by the protocols ofnetwork 600. In the 5G protocols, CU 800 provides support for higherlayers of the protocol stack. For example, in the 5G NR protocol CU 800supports high-level operations such as the Service Data AdaptationProtocol (SDAP), the Primary Reference Clock (PRC), and the Packet DataConvergence Protocol (PDCP), for example, among other functions. In theparticular example illustrated in FIG. 8A, CU 800 includes a processor804 that is coupled to a memory 802. Memory 802 includes volatile andnon-volatile memory that stores instructions and data used by processor804 to perform the functions described here. Processor 804 is furthercoupled to an interface 806. Interface 806 may include any networkconnection to communicate with the cloud-based services 810. Interface806 also couples CU 800 to the DU downstream components. Interface 806may include hardwired interfaces, optical interfaces, wirelessconnections, or any other interface to transmit data packets to the DUdownstream (midhaul) components and communicate with the cloud-basedservices 810. Interface 806 may also provide connection to cloud-basedservices 810 to other CU 800, which has somehow lost network connection.In some embodiments, interface 806 may include a radio-based interface.Processor 804 may further be coupled to an interface 808, which mayinclude a user interface or other wired interface for communicationswith a user. Interface 808 may include optical couplers (e.g. IR opticalcommunications), USB or other interface ports, or any device supportingother communications protocols services. Interface 808 may include anynumber of user input or display devices, including touch-screens, videodisplays, indicator lights, keyboards, microphones, speakers, or anyother device that facilitates local communications between CU 800 and auser.

Processor 804 can be one or more of microcomputer, microcontroller,microprocessor, ASIC, or other computational circuit capable ofexecuting instructions stored in memory 802 to perform the functions asdescribed in this disclosure. As is illustrated in FIG. 8A, memory 802can store instructions and data for various applications, including thenetwork traffic management and routing procedures, DM application andinterfaces (such as the DU cluster load balancing application, the userspecific BS subnet management application, and KCN registry with smartpredictive device profile abstraction application), DU/RU routing andcontrol, and interfacing with cloud-services 810 to provide internetservices to an end user. As discussed above, memory 802 includesinstructions for performing the higher layer network protocols that areexpected by a central unit in that network environment.

FIG. 8B illustrates a DU 820 according to some embodiments. DU 820 is anmidhaul component that is connected to a CU such as CU 800 illustratedin FIG. 8A and provides traffic to an RU. In the 5G protocols, the DUsupports lower layers of the protocol, for example the radio linkcontrol (RLC) protocol, the medium access control (MAC) protocol, andthe physical layer itself. As illustrated, for example in FIG. 6A, theremay be many DUs such as DU 820 coupled to each CU such as CU 800, withthe CU controlling traffic through each of the DUs.

As is illustrated in FIG. 8B, DU 820 includes a processor 826 that iscoupled to a memory 822. Memory 822 includes volatile and non-volatilememory that stores instructions and data used by processor 826 toperform the functions described here. Processor 826 is further coupledto an interface 828. Interface 828 may include any network connection tocommunicate between a CU and an RU. Interface 828 may include hardwiredinterfaces, optical interfaces, wireless connections, or any otherinterface to transmit and receive data packets from a CU or othernetwork node. In some embodiments, interface 828 may include aradio-based interface. Processor 826 may further be coupled to aninterface 824, which may include a user interface or other wiredinterface for communications with a user. Interface 824 may includeoptical couplers (e.g. IR optical communications), USB or otherinterface ports, or any device supporting other communications protocolsservices. Interface 824 may further include any number of user input ordisplay devices, including touch-screens, video displays, indicatorlights, keyboards, microphones, speakers, or any other device thatfacilitates local communications between DU 820 and a user.

Processor 826 can be one or more of microcomputer, microcontroller,microprocessor, ASIC, or other computational circuit capable ofexecuting instructions stored in memory 822 to perform the functions asdescribed in this disclosure. As is illustrated in FIG. 8B, memory 822can store instructions and data for various applications, including thenetwork traffic management and routing procedures, DM application andinterfaces (such as the RU digital processing support application, theuser specific virtual BS connection management application, and KCNregistry with smart predictive device profile abstraction application),and network protocols. As discussed above, memory 822 includesinstructions for performing lower layer network protocols that areexpected by a distributed unit in that network environment.

FIG. 8C illustrates a RU 840 according to some embodiments. RU 840 is acomponent that is connected to a DU such as DU 820 and provides radiotraffic to end users such as a gateway. In the 5G protocols, the RU iscoupled to a DU and handles transmission of network data packets overthe radio network. As such, RU 840 controls physical layer transmissionsuch as beam formation, power levels, and other functions fortransmission of data. As is illustrated in FIG. 8C, RU 840 includes aprocessor 846 that is coupled to a memory 842. Memory 842 includesvolatile and non-volatile memory that stores instructions and data usedby processor 846 to perform the functions described here. Processor 846is further coupled to interfaces 848 and 850. Interface 848 may includeany network connection to communicate between with a DU such as DU 820.In some embodiments, DU 820 may be incorporated with or in directcommunication with RU 840 through a peripheral component interface(e.g., enhanced PCle interconnect). In other embodiments, interface 848may include hardwired interfaces, optical interfaces, wirelessconnections, or any other interface to transmit and receive data packetsbetween a DU and downstream UE Gateway. Processor 846 is also coupled toradio interfaces 850. Radio interface 850 is a radio-based interfacethat transmits data across the air according to the radio networkprotocol. Radio interface 850 can be coupled to a smart antenna module860 to control operation of the antenna array 852 to facilitatebeam-forming and other RU functionality.

Processor 846 may further be coupled to an interface 844, which mayinclude a user interface or other wired interface for communicationswith a user. Interface 844 may include optical couplers (e.g. IR opticalcommunications), USB or other interface ports, or any device supportingother communications protocols services. Interface 844 may furtherinclude any number of user input or display devices, includingtouch-screens, video displays, indicator lights, keyboards, microphones,speakers, or any other device that facilitates local communicationsbetween DU 820 and a user.

Processor 846 can be one or more of microcomputer, microcontroller,microprocessor, ASIC, or other computational circuit capable ofexecuting instructions stored in memory 842 to perform the functions asdescribed in this disclosure. As is illustrated in FIG. 8C, memory 842can store instructions and data for various applications, including thenetwork traffic management and routing procedures, DM application andinterfaces, radio resource control (RRC) protocols, radio link control(RLC) protocols, and general radio control functions. Radio controlfunctions can, for example, include frequency controls, multiple-usermultiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) beam forming, bandwidth/rangedetermination, encryption and error control algorithms, dynamic powercontrol, and network access controls. As discussed above, memory 842includes instructions for performing physical layer network protocolsthat are expected by a radio unit in that network environment.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 8C, in accordance with someembodiments RU 840 may include timing circuit 854 that provides timingfor radio interface 850. In some embodiments, timing circuit 854 mayinclude a near-zero jitter fast locking phase-locked loop in order toprovide highly accurate timing to facilitate high data ratetransmission. The high performance PLL circuit that provides a nearjitter free, fast signal locking, low bit error signal stream that canbe used in radio transceiver 850.

Embodiments of RU 840 according to this disclosure provides a radiodesign that results in much better data bandwidth and larger signalcoverage range for fixed wireless broadband access, addressing bothurban and rural coverages. In some embodiments, RU 840 follows thefollowing three principals: 1) radio performance is maximized throughintense innovation in selected high impact components coupled withdrastic simplification of radio design and architecture to lower radioprocessing complexity; 2) Common radio system platform usingsoftware-designed radio (SDR) techniques for connections for bothfronthaul, and midhaul applications.; 3) Dynamically self-organized,self-optimized, self-healed with automatic reconfigured wireless meshcomponents . Software-designed radio (SDR) processing, MU-MIMOapplication, and smart antennae technologies can be used to increase theeffectiveness of RU 840.

The intelligent use of MU-MIMO with smart advanced antenna systems andcoordinated power control with all participating radio devices enablescustom beamforming signal streams for each radio communicating partnerbalancing between bandwidth and coverage range. When applied to basestation Radio Units (RU), it maximizes data bandwidth for nearby UserEquipment (UE) and reduces data bandwidth for distant UE's to ensurereliable connections are maintained over the longer range-overagesneeded.

As is discussed in more detail below, RU 840 further includes a powerblock 862. Power block 862 can receive power from any source in order topower RU 840. In some embodiments, power block 862 can receive powerfrom a DU or GW that is coupled with RU 840. In some embodiments, powerblock 862 receives power from a solar DM.

FIG. 8D illustrates a gateway (GW) 880 according to some embodiments. GW880 is an end-point fronthaul component that is connected to a RU suchas RU 840 and provides connectivity to end-point devices such as UEs,IoTs, and PMs. As is illustrated in FIG. 8D, GW 880 includes a processor884 that is coupled to a memory 882. Memory 882 includes volatile andnon-volatile memory that stores instructions and data used by processor884 to perform the functions described here. Processor 884 is furthercoupled to a WiFi transceiver 888, a radio transceiver 890, and a wirednetwork interface 896. Radio Interface 890 may include any networkconnection to communicate with an RU such as RU 840 and with other GWssuch as GW 880. Interface 896 may include hardwired interfaces, opticalinterfaces, wireless connections, or any other interface to transmit andreceive data packets with local UEs, IoTs, PMs or other devices. WiFitransceiver 888 provides local area wireless networking with local UEs,IoTs, PMs, or other devices.

Processor 884 may further be coupled to an interface 886, which mayinclude a user interface or other wired interface for communicationswith a user. Interface 886 may include optical couplers (e.g. IR opticalcommunications), USB or other interface ports, or any device supportingother communications protocols services. Interface 886 may furtherinclude any number of user input or display devices, includingtouch-screens, video displays, indicator lights, keyboards, microphones,speakers, or any other device that facilitates local communicationsbetween GW 880 and a user.

Processor 884 can be one or more of microcomputer, microcontroller,microprocessor, ASIC, or other computational circuit capable ofexecuting instructions stored in memory 882 to perform the functions asdescribed in this disclosure. As is illustrated in FIG. 8D, memory 882can store instructions and data for various applications, including DMcontrol, WiFi management, Virtual Dynamic RU services, security shields,UE/IoT/PM connectivity, dynamic routing, transactive energy contracts,transactive bandwidth transactions, and other functionalities.

FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, and 8D illustrates various network components that areassembled to form a network according to some embodiments of the presentinvention. Network components, which may include the CU, DU, RU, and GWcomponents described above are formed at various sites. FIG. 9 furtherdescribes a Radio Unit according to some embodiments. FIGS. 10A, 10B,10C, and 10D further illustrate network devices that are formed with thecomponents discussed above. In accordance with some embodiments of thisdisclosure, the network nodes can be assembled with virtual or physicaldevice modules (DMs). As is discussed further below, virtual DMs can bedistributed across various network node devices to form a distributedvirtual device module (DVDM) construction. The network devices describedbelow can be stackable from individual DMs or can be distributed to formvirtual device modules. In some embodiments, virtual DMs can beintegrated and executable on a single platform. Further, the functionsmay be virtually integrated to function on the same platform.

FIG. 9 illustrates a radio device 900 according to some embodiments.Radio device 900 includes a radio DM 904. Radio DM 904 can be, forexample, as illustrated as RU 840 illustrated in FIG. 8C. As describedwith FIG. 8C, radio DM 904 includes a radio core 908 that performs thefunctions of RU 840 as described in FIG. 8C. Radio core 908 is coupledwith a number of smart antenna modules, of which modules 906 and 910 areillustrated, that execute the beam forming and other functions describedhere.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, radio device 900 also includes a solar DM 902.As radio-based network devices such as Gateways, UE's and RU's aredeployed in geographically isolated, remote areas or hard to readbuilding locations where power sources are limited. Solar 902 providessolar based power to radio device 900 and may include solar collectorsas well as power storage management, power regulation, and otherfunctions related to collecting, storing, and supplying power to radioDM 904.

Solar Power DM 902 that are incorporated within radio devices 900 willlikely be located on top of building roofs to facilitate ready access tothe sun and to maximize the stability of radio signal connections. As isillustrated, solar DM 902 can be coupled with radio DM 904 with anyconnections, for example peripheral component interconnect express(PCIe) connectors with power connectors. This Radio DM and Solar PowerDM stack of radio device 900 illustrated in FIG. 9 can be connected toother components of a separate DM stack, as is described further below,for example as illustrated in FIG. 10D, via a special connector cable.An optional battery pack and DC-DC module may also be included as partof the Solar Power DM 902 or separately in other parts of a DM stackcoupled with radio device 900.

FIG. 10A illustrates a network device 1002 that includes radio device900 coupled with a DU DM 1004. DU DM 1004 is discussed as DU 820illustrated in FIG. 8B. As such, DU DM 1004 performs the functions asillustrated in FIG. 8B. As is illustrated, radio device 900 and DU DM902 can be coupled with any connections, for example peripheralcomponent interconnect express (PCIe) connectors with power connectors.Network device 1002 may further include other DMs 1006 that may bevirtual or a combination of virtual and physical. As discussed above,radio device 900 may be located on a tower or a roof-top. DU DM 1004 andDMs 1006 may, in some embodiments, be co-located on the tower orroof-top with radio device 900. Alternatively, DU DM 1004 and DMs 1006may be located in a more sheltered location (e.g., an environmentallycontrolled server room) and connected with radio device 900 with acable. Network device 1002 can be referred to as a DU Network Device.

FIG. 10B illustrates a network device 1010 that integrates radio device900 with a DU DM 1012 and a CU DM 1014. As discussed above, DU DM 1012is discussed above as DU 820 illustrated in FIG. 8B. CU DM 1014 isdiscussed as CU 800 illustrated in FIG. 8A. It should be noted that DUDM 1012 and CU DM 1014 can be virtual and integrated into one platformwith the combined capabilities. As is illustrated in FIG. 10B, radiodevice 900, DU DM 1012, and CU DM 1014 can be coupled with anyconnections, for example peripheral component interconnect express(PCIe) connectors with power connectors. Network device 1010 may furtherinclude other DMs 1016 that may be virtual or a combination of virtualand physical devices coupled into network device 1010. As discussedabove, radio device 900 may be located on a tower or a roof-top. DU DM1012, CU DM 1014, and DMs 1016 may, in some embodiments, be co-locatedon the tower or roof-top with radio device 900. Alternatively, DU DM1012, CU DMs 1014, and DMs 1016 may be located in a more shelteredlocation (e.g., an environmentally controlled server room) and connectedwith radio device 900 with a cable. Network device 1010 may be referredto as a CU Network device because of the presence of CU DM 1014.

FIG. 10C illustrates a network device 1020 that does not include a radiodevice 900. As illustrated, network device 1020 includes a DU DM 1022and a CU DM 1024. As discussed above, the DU DM 1022 is discussed aboveas DU 820 illustrated in FIG. 8B while CU DM 1024 is discussed as CU 800illustrated in FIG. 8A. DU DM 1022 and CU DM 1024 may be virtual andoperating on the same platform. Since network device 1020 does notinclude a radio device 900, network device 1020 includes wired oroptical network communications with other network devices. As isillustrated, DU DM 1022 and CU DM 1024 are either incorporated in thesame platform as virtual DMs or can be coupled with any connections, forexample peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) connectors withpower connectors. Network device 1020 may further include other DMs 1026that may be virtual or a combination of virtual and physical.

FIG. 10D illustrates a gateway device 1030 according to someembodiments. Gateway device 1030 can be as described as gateway 880 inFIG. 8D. Gateway device 1030 depicts a modularized depiction of gateway880. As is illustrated in FIG. 10D, gateway device 1030 can include aradio DM 900 as illustrated in FIG. 9 for communications with theradio-based network. Further, gateway 1030 includes a WiFi DM 1032 thatprovides wireless networking capabilities to communicate with userdevices such as UEs, IoTs, and PMs. Gateway 1030 may further include astorage DM 1034 that can be used to store data. Other DMs, such as thesmart predictive device profile that is part of the KCN registry, may beactivated to analyze data received from user devices locally. Gateway1030 may further include a router DM 1036 that handles local and meshnetwork communications. Device DMs 1038 are DMs that are loaded tohandle individual user devices. An additional network interface DM 1040can function to administer a wired network such as a local ethernetnetwork. Any number of other DMs 1042 can be included with gatewaydevice 1030 for user defined functionality.

Other functionalities can include functionality for monitoring,collecting data from, and controlling PMs. Further, IoTs such as EVcharging units may be included. As such, gateway device 1030 includesapplications for user device managements, DM management, subnetworkmanagement, wireless management, and functionality for individual devicemanagement. Such devices as 3rd party Home Hub DM, connected to gatewaydevice 1030 via either PCIe, Ethernet, or USB-C connection, may receivepower from the Router DM 1036, while a 3rd party Smart EV Charger DMconnected via WiFi DM 1032 may not. Gateway 1030 can include DMs tooperate with any interfaceable device within the network range ofgateway 1030.

Gateway device 1030 may further include a power DM 1044. Power DM 1044manages the power requirements of gateway device 1030 and may receivepower from any source. In particular, power DM 1044 may receive solarpower from solar DM 902 of radio device 900 or may include a separatesolar DM, may receive power from any other power device. Consequently,Power DM 1044 can monitor and control the operation of Solar Power DM902 or any other solar device and the battery if detected. Depending onthe availability of power from the combination of the Solar Power DM andthe battery, the Router DM will selectively reduce or shut down powersupply to selected connected DM's according to the power systempreferences.

Gateway device 1030 illustrates a stackable integration of a Solar PowerDM , either as part of radio device 900 or a separate DM of gatewaydevice 1030. Individual DMs of gateway device 950 are either virtual andsupported on a common platform or may be stackable individual devicesconnected by a bus, which may be for example a PCIe. A power supply railis part of the PCIe connector, which can be run along with the PCIe busthrough the center of gateway device 1030. A Solar Power DM can, forexample, include a universal DC/DC module to provide a power source toRouter DM 1036, which in turn powers all the DM's connected to theEthernet, USB-C, or PCIe bus power rail within gateway device 1030. Italso connects to the PCIe bus for communications with the Router DM1036. As illustrated, native DM's connect to the Router DM via thecenter PCIe bus axis extending the device vertically will receive powervia the PCIe bus power rail.

As is further understood, GW device 1030 may be integrated to form thefunctions of any combination of network elements. For example, router DM1036, in combination with other DMs 1042, may perform any combination ofnetwork activities defined by the functions of the CU, DU, and RU aswell as the GW functions as described here.

As is illustrated in FIGS. 10A through 10D, each network device utilizedin a network is formed from DMs. In some embodiments, DMs from eachnetwork device communicate with DMs from other network devices toperform functions. For example, transactive communications DMs can beformed in DU network devices, CU Network devices and UE Gateway networkdevices to negotiate service contracts to be provided by the network.Consequently, as is discussed further below a transactive communicationsDM in a Gateway network device can communicate with transactivecommunications DMs throughout the network to negotiate for connectionbandwidth and performance needs. Similarly, energy services can benegotiated through transactive energy DMs in the network. The networkdevices illustrated in FIGS. 8A through 8D, 9, and 10A through 10D arefurther discussed below in further detail. In particular, examples ofvarious gateway DM configurations according to some embodiments arefurther described below with respect to FIGS. 18A through 18C. A homegateway DM configuration is described below with respect to FIGS. 19Aand 19B. A multi-dwelling gateway DM configuration is described belowwith respect to FIGS. 19C and 19D. An example enterprise gateway DMconfiguration is described below with respect to FIGS. 19E and 19F.

There are two very different types of communications applicationsrequiring very difference kinds of communications resources from anetwork such as network 600 illustrated in FIGS. 6A and 6B. The majorityof the IoT devices regularly collect and send small amounts of data toprocessing centers in cloud services 602 to be processed. Thecommunications channel these IoT devices require are steady connectionswith low bandwidth. The other type of applications mainly deals withvideo, such as downloading large video files, video streaming, and AR/VRapplications. These applications require very broad bandwidth but theapplications typically are only active for a limited amount of time. Thebroadband communications channels such applications require are onlyneeded while the applications are active.

As discussed above, under the current monthly subscription chargingparadigm, the mobile cellular networks have created the NB-IoT radiowith corresponding special subscription to deal with the IoT devices andretained the broadband mobile data plan for the smartphone and broadbanddata devices. The cable broadband Internet operators typicallycharacterize their service plans by bandwidth and generally do notdistinguish what kinds of devices connected through the cable modems.

FIG. 11 demonstrates an example network 1100 capable of providing atransactive communications service framework according to someembodiments of the present disclosure. Example network 1100 is providedfor demonstrative purposes only. A network according to embodiments ofthe disclosure can be of any size and complexity. Consequently, examplenetwork 1100 is provided to demonstrate aspects of this disclosure.Network 1100, as discussed further below, forms a mesh network. As such,network 1100 is self-organized, self- healing, and self-optimized asdiscussed further below. Further, user subnets are formed andtransactive communications services can be performed. FIG. 11illustrates, for example, how a virtual radio BS is formed by couplingCU1 1106, DU1 1110, and RU1 1114 to form a user subnet supporting 25Mbps with maximum 10 ms latency to serve UE1 1120. The same virtualradio BS also forms a user subnet supporting 125 Mbps with maximum 5 mslatency to serve UE3 1116. One skilled in the art will recognize thatFIG. 11 provides an example only and actual data rates and latencies inother networks will differ.

Network 1100 includes a CU network device CU1 1106, which may be housedin a data site, in contact with services 5G MEC 1102 and transactivenetwork 1104. CU network device CU1 1106 can be, for example, networkdevice 930 as illustrated in FIG. 9C. As further illustrated, CU networkdevice CU1 1106 may be connected by radio link with DU network deviceDU2 1108 and DU network device DU1 1110. As is further illustrated, DUnetwork device DU2 1108 may also provide radio network transport to DUnetwork device DU1 1110. Both DU device network device DU2 1108 and DUnetwork device DU1 1110 can be, for example, network device 920 asillustrated in FIG. 9B.

DU network device DU2 1108 connects to an RU network device RU2 1112. RUnetwork device RU2 1112 connects with UE gateway UE4 1118. RU networkdevice RU1 1114 can be connected with UE gateway UE3 1116 and UE gatewayUE1 1120. UE gateway UE3 1116, UE gateway UE4 1118, and UE gateway UE11120 can be, for example, examples of gateway device 950 as illustratedin FIG. 9E.

Network 1100 illustrates an example network according to someembodiments where CU network device CU1 1106, DU network devices DU21108 and DU1 1110, RU network devices RU2 1112 and RU1 1114 each providemultiple channels of data transport with an array of data rates andlatencies in a mesh network. FIG. 11 illustrates a particular examplefor exemplary purposes only. In the example illustrated in FIG. 11,network 1100 illustrates a network where CU Network Device CU1 1106provides a channel with 35 Mbps with 10 ms latency, a 125 Mbps channelwith 5 ms latency and a 200 Mbps channel with 1 ms latency. Channelsbetween DU network device DU2 1108 and DU network device DU1 1110provides two channels, one with 24 Mbps at 10 ms latency and anotherwith 125 Mbps with 5 ms latency. DU network device DU2 1108 provides asingle channel with 200 Mbps at 1 ms latency to RU Network device RU21112. RU network device RU1 1114 is illustrated as supplying a firstchannel to gateway network device UE3 1116 at 125 Mbps with 5 ms latencyand a second channel at 25 Mbps with 10 ms latency to gateway device UE11120. Further, RU network device RU2 1112 provides a channel at 200 Mbpswith 1 ms latency to gateway device UE4 1118.

With a Transactive Communications network as illustrated in FIG. 11, thedata rate to end users is negotiated for a communications connectionthat handles the regularly connected and communicating devices such asIoTs and PMs. This negotiation may be accomplished by exchanging datapackets with DMs located on gateways 1116, 1118, and 1120 as well asupstream network devices to acquire the appropriate bandwidth. Oncenegotiated, the steady bandwidth resulting from the connection will beavailable all the time. Transaction contracts with each of gateways UE31116, UE4 1118, and UE1 1120 may be acquired for both a low-bandwidthsteady service that provides service to the devices connected togateways UE3 1116, UE4 1118, and UE1 1120 as well as intermittenthigh-bandwidth services appropriate for high bandwidth use.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 11, gateway device UE3 1116, forexample, supports high bandwidth devices 1122. When the user turns on asmart TV set to watch a 4K movie, a communications channel broad enoughto carry the 4K stream may be established for the duration of the movieand the user only has to pay for the additional channel for thatspecific period of time. When a user needs to download ten 4K moviefiles, say total to 100 gigabytes, sometime over the next 24 hours,network 1100 can schedule it during traffic low period and allocate thebiggest bandwidth channel available and have the files downloaded muchfaster and at a much cheaper cost to the user. This also helps tomaximize the efficiency of network resource utilization for thecommunications network operator.

In addition, to facilitate easy deployment and achieve high faulttolerant of network 1100, network devices CU device 1106, DU1 1110, DU21108, RU1 1115, and RU2 1112 can provide self-healing mesh networkcapabilities. As illustrated in FIG. 11, for example, if DU1 1110 mayreceive network traffic from DU2 1108 or directly from CU1 1106.Consequently, network traffic can be routed around DU1 1110 if thatdevice fails. Further, additional network devices performing the CU, DU,and RU functions can be linked into the network. Like a traditionalwireless mesh network, each of the network elements performs a distinctrole such as a mesh client, a mesh gateway, or a mesh router locatedsomewhere between a mesh client and a mesh gateway. The mesh networkaccording to some embodiments is illustrated by network 1100 illustratedin FIG. 11.

Further, for illustrative purposes, network 1100 is geographicallydistributed over serval environments. For example, CU device CU1 1106and DU device DU2 1108 may be located in a dense city. DU device DU11110 may be located between a dense city and the suburbs. RU device RU21112 may be located in the suburbs. Ru device RU1 1114 may be more ruralto service rural UE gateways UE4 1118, UE3 1116, and UE1 1120. It shouldbe understood that FIG. 11 illustrates a portion of network 1100 andother devices (DU, RU, and gateway devices) are located throughout thegeographic area. CU device CU1 1106 may provide network trafficthroughout network 1100. In some embodiments, the network devicesillustrated in FIG. 11 may further be coupled to other CU devices.

Consequently, as is illustrated in FIG. 11, network traffic may berouted through combinations of network devices using individual channelsin order route requested services to an end user. In particular, CU11106, DU1 1110, and DU 1108 may communicate to appropriately routebandwidth through constructed subnets that are dynamically formed toservice each end user. This dynamic construction of subnets incombination with transaction contracting allows network 1100 toconfigure itself appropriately.

As illustrated in FIG. 11, mesh network 1100 is dynamically configuredinto subnets with specific performance parameters each serving a user'sspecific needs at a specific time. For example, in the configurationillustrated in network 1100 of FIG. 11, UE3 has required acommunications link of 125 Mbps with latency of no longer than 5 ms fromRU1. A subnet connecting CU1, DU2, DU1, RU1, and UE3, supporting 125Mbps with latency of no longer than 5 ms is assembled to serve UE 3.Similarly, a subnet connecting CU1, DU2, DU1, RU1, and UE1 is assembledto support 25 Mbps bandwidth with no worse than 10 ms latency to serveUE 1's Internet access requirement. These subnets are assembleddynamically within network 1100 to serve individual UE's. The subnetperformance parameters are modified as the UE's service needs changed,as is discussed further below. While we used bandwidth and latency asperformance parameter in our example, other parameters such as BER canalso be added to the subnet channel requirements when appropriate.

As has been discussed above, network 1100 according to some embodimentscan be a self-organized and self-healed fault tolerant transactiveinfrastructure. FIG. 12A illustrates an example flow and communicationschart 1200 for linking in UE1 1120 using network 1100 as an example. Inparticular, chart 1200 illustrates linking UE1 1120 into network 1100for the first time or illustrates the case when the radio link betweenRU1 1114 and UE1 1120 has become degraded or is blocked for some reason.In that case, UE1 1120 will seek connection paths or alternateconnection paths to reconnect UE1 1120 to network 1100

FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 12C illustrate example process flows illustratingself-healing, self-optimization, and requests for new services using theexample network 1100 according to some embodiments for illustrativepurposes. In particular, process flow 1200 illustrated in FIG. 12Aillustrates how network 1100 can be re-organized to recover from lostconnection between RU1 1114 and UE1 1120 automatically. Process flow1200 further illustrates how, in the process of recovering, UE1 1120 maynegotiate a cheaper price for the service it requests. A similar processcan occur when UE1 1120 is first incorporated into network 1100.

As illustrated in FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 12C, the timelines (increasing ina direction down the page) for operations of each of UE1 1120, UE3 1116,RU1 1114, RU2 1112, DU2 1108, DU1 1110, and CU1 1106 is presented.Operations of each of these network devices is executed by a devicemodule executing on the network device platform and is depicted on aline starting at step 1208 at a first time and increasing in time downthe page. As is illustrates, DMs interact between network devices tofacilitate operation of network 1100 as a whole. The timings illustratedin FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 12C are not to be considered relatively accurateand timing separations are not considered to scale. The timingsillustrated are for illustration only. As is further illustrated in FIG.11, CU1 1106 is coupled to cloud transaction services 1104. Cloudtransaction services 1104 includes a transactions data base (TDB) 1206that records all of the bandwidth transaction contracts that areoperative in network 1100. Further, cloud transaction services 1104includes service providers, of which service provider A 1202 and serviceprovider B 1204 is illustrated. There may be any number of serviceproviders included in cloud transaction services 1104 to providenetworking services to end users represented by UE1 1120 and UE3 1116.Further, in FIGS. 12A, 12B, and 12C, a routing through a network deviceis designated by a heavy connection symbol “⋅”.

Communications between network devices are provided by packet datacommunications carrying the indicated messages. The packets sent betweendevices as discussed below adhere to the packet formats appropriate fornetwork 1100. For example, if network 1100 is a 5G NR radio network,then packets that adhere to the 5G NR protocols are used. Consequently,messages are transmitted between network devices embedded within packetsand are acted upon by DMs operating in each of the network devices.

In FIG. 12A, process flow 1200 starts at Step 1208, which in this caseis executed by DU1 1110. Relatedly, step 1209, which in this case isexecuted by UE1 1120, also marks the beginning of process 1200. In step1208, DU1 1110 detects that the connection between RU1 1114 and UE1 1120has been disrupted and lost. In step 1208, DU1 1110 executes a recoveryattempt to restore service to UE1 1120 under the current contract. SinceDU1 1110 no longer sees UE1 1120 in its subnet, indicating thatconnection is lost, in step 1210 DU1 1110 locates other UE's it servesthat are close to UE1 1120 and have mesh router capabilities throughwhich UE1 1120 can be reconnected to DU1 1110. In step 1210, DU1 findsUE3 1116 as a candidate and requests that UE3 execute step 1212 toprovide the SA beacon indicating that service is available. Inparticular, DU1 1110 in step 1210 determines that UE3 1116 has meshrouter capabilities and is close to UE1 1120. Step 1210 executed by DU11210 then sends an “Activate Service Availability Beacon” request to UE31116.

As indicated in FIG. 12A, the “Activate Services Availability Beacon”request is routed through RU1 1114 to be received in step 1212 executedon UE3 1116. In response to receipt of the “Activate Service AvailBeacon” message from step 1210 of DU1 1110, step 1212 activates a“Service Avail Beacon” (SA) to UE1 1120.

Further, other DUs also send “Service Available Beacons” that can bereceived by UE1 1120. In some embodiments, UE1 1120 may transmit abeacon request signal to initiate transmission of beacons from otherdevices in Network 1100. As illustrated in FIG. 12A, in step 1214executed on DU2 1108, a SA on behalf of DU2 is sent to UE1 1120 throughRU2 1112.

In step 1209, UE1 1120 detects that the connection to network 1100 islost and executes step 1216 to receive SAs from available DUs. Asillustrated in the example of FIG. 12A, in step 1216, executed at UE11120, SAs are received from DU1 1110 through UE3 1116 (steps 1210 and1212), and from DU2 1108 (provided by step 1214).

When UE1 1120 has received the SAs from available DUs in network 1110,then UE1 1120 executes step 1218. In step 1218, UE1 1120 sends “ServiceRequests” (SRs) to DU1 1110 via UE3 1116 and DU2 1108. As illustrated inFIG. 12A, in step 1218 UE1 1120 responses to both SAs with the sameService Request (SR), asking for a communications channel withparticular characteristics. In particular, the SR requests service withone or more of the following parameters: a maximum of X bandwidth,maximum of Y latency, maximum of Z bit-error-rate (BER), maximum price,start time, and end time. (BW X, Latency Y, BER Z, Price A, start time,end time). Other characteristics of the service may also be requested byUE1 1120. As illustrated in FIG. 12A, step 1218 sends the SR to step1220 in DU2 1108 and step 1222 in DU1 1110.

When the SR is received in step 1222 of DU1 1110, DU1 1110 evaluates theSR in step 1224. In this example, since DU1 1110 was previouslyconnected to UE 1 1120 an existing service transaction contract exists.In step 1224, DU1 recognizes that the subnet used to serve UE1 is stillavailable, if the SR received in step 1222 falls within the previouscontract, DU1 1110 proceeds to step 1226 to send a response via UE3 1116confirming to UE1 1120 that it can provide the requested service underthe previous service transaction contract. If in step 1224, DU1 1110determines that a new service contract is required, the DU1 1110 followsthe process outlined for DU2 1108 below to provide for a new contract.For the purpose of this example, DU1 in step 1224 determines that the SRis fulfilled by the current contract. Also, for purposes of thisexample, the service contract can be referred to as Contract A withService Provider A, which is already stored in TDB 1206. Consequently,in step 1226, DU1 sends a response with Contract A to UE1 1120.

However, DU2 does not have an existing contract. Consequently, DU2executes steps 1228, 1230, 1236, and 1240 to propose a contract forservices to UE1 1120. It should be noted, that if DU1 1110 needs toestablish a new contract to propose, then DU1 1110 will also followthese steps. It should also be noted that if, instead of a situationwhere service to UE1 1120 is lost, UE1 is establishing service withnetwork 1100 for the first time, both DU1 1110 and DU2 1108 will executethe steps described below for DU2 1108.

When the SR is received from UE1 1120 into step 1220 of DU2 1108, DU21108 proceeds to step 1228 to evaluate the request. In step 1228, DU21108 determines that no existing contract exits and proceeds to step1230 to assemble a subnet to service the SR from UE1 1120. Step 1230 isexecuted on DU2 1108 in conjunction with CU1 1106 and RU2 1112, asneeded. Step 1230 is illustrated in more detail in FIG. 12B.

FIG. 12B illustrates an example of step 1230 to assemble a subnet thatfulfills the SR from UE1 1120. As illustrated in FIG. 12B, step 1230starts with an evaluation of the channels in step 1266. In step 1268,DU2 1108 determines whether or not it has the available resources tofulfill the SR provided by UE1 1120. If yes, then DU2 proceeds to step1280. If not, then DU2 1108 proceeds to step 1270. In step 1270, DU21108 provides a supplemental request through RU2 1112 to another DU innetwork 1100 capable of providing resources to complete the SR. Thesupplemental request is provided to step 1272 executed in RU2 1112. Inresponse, RU2 1112 provides a request to another DU (not shown) todetermine whether the unfulfilled resources are found. RU2 1112 receivesthe response from the other DU in step 1274 and provides those resultsto DU2 1108 in step 1276. Step 1276 determines whether, with theresources located in DU2 1108 and the other DU, the SR from UE1 1120 canbe fulfilled. If yes, then DU2 1108 proceeds to step 1280. If not, theDU2 1108 can reject the request and provide that rejection to step 1278of RU2 1112, which provides it to SR Rejected step 1286 in UE1 1120.

In step 1280, DU2 1108 assembles a subnet to fulfill the SR from UE11120. As discussed above, the subnet may include only DU1 or may includemultiple other DUs that are located to fulfill the request. The subnetconstructed by DU2 1108 in step 1280 is then provided to step 1282. Instep 1282 two views of subnets exist: 1) A subnet composed of all theconnection provided via DU2 1108 to UE1 1120, which may involve multipleCUs that DU2 uses to support UE1 1120 and multiple DUs with associatedCUs also supported UE1 1120; and 2) A subset of the subnet required byDU2 1108 to serve UE1 1120 that is supported by CU1 1106. The subnet inthe first view is forwarded to UE1 1120 via step 1284. The second subsetof the subnet reservation information is sent to CU1 1106 as part ofstep 1282. The subnet construction provided by step 1280 can then bestored at CU1 1106, RU2 1112, and UE1 1234 and may be stored at othernetwork devices participating in the subnets. In some embodiments, thesesubnets can form the basis of network routing tables in each of thesedevices.

Note that, as illustrated in FIG. 12B, if channel aggregation issupported in UE1 1120 and included in the parameters of the SR from UE11120, DU2 1108 may also work with the Transaction Service Network 1104to reserve as much bandwidth resources as possible as per the SR fromUE1 1120 for both uplink and downlink requirements. Consequently, step1270 may also message CU1 1106 to provide additional resources. In someembodiments, if step 1276 determines that the SR cannot be fulfilled,then DU2 1108 may inform UE1 with a Rej. SR step 1286 message indicatinga partial fulfilment of the SR and provide the highest level of servicethat can be provided. UE1 1120 can then decide if it will take the offerfrom DU2 1108 and request further services to create and aggregate othersubnets, with possible other services from Transaction Services 1104, toform the necessary bandwidth between UE1 1120 and the Service Provider.In this case DU2 1108 will function as the primary DU serving UE1 1120with the highest-level subnet that can be provided. DU2 1108 may thenmanage all component subnets in conjunction with UE1 1120 and theTransaction Service Network 1104 to fulfill the service needs of UE11120.

Consequently, the ability of a DU to recruit other DUs with associatedRUs and CUs to form a composite subnet comprised of multiple virtualradio BS to serve a UE service request eliminates the maximum bandwidthlimitation from the Radio BS network. In addition, in some embodiments,a UE can aggregate multiple subnets to form a communications channel asbig as it can aggregate and manage. The channel bandwidth can be biggerthan any individual Radio BS itself can support, effectively eliminatedthe maximum bandwidth limitation from the Radio BS network also. Theonly limitation at that point will be the total bandwidth within radiorange of the UE.

With reference again to FIG. 12A, for the purpose of this particularexample, in step 1230 has completed successfully and an appropriatesubnet is reserved and stored in steps 1234 and 1232 for providingservices according to the SR to UE1 1120. Once an appropriate subnet isdefined, in Step 1236 DU2 1108 forwards the SR from UE1 to transactionsnetwork 1104, and consequently to step 1238 of service provider A 1202and service provider B 1204, to see if there are service providers whocan provide the requested service in the SR. In step 1238 responses areprovided from each of the available service providers in transactionservice network 1104. In step 1238, for purposes of illustration only,Service Provider B 1204, through Transaction Service Network 1104provides a response to DU2 1108 with a more favorable Price B for theservice requested by UE1 1120, with all other parameters of the SR beingfulfilled. In Step 1240, DU2 1108 relay the response from ServiceProvider B 1204 to UE1 1120. In step 1240, then, DU2 1108 determines the“best” response amongst the various service provided in transactionservices network 1104. This can be accomplished, in the example providedhere, based on price. Other parameters may also provide comparison, forexample overall available bandwidth, lowest latency, lowest BER, orother parameters. Step 1240 may include various requirements foranalyzing the “best” response received to forward to UE1 1120

In Step 1242 EU1 1120 receives responses from the multiple SRstransmitted by step 1218. In this case, Step 1242 receives a responsefrom DU1 1110 sent by step 1226 and a response from DU2 1108 send bystep 1240 in addition to the subnet construction information received instep 1234. In step 1244, UE1 1120 evaluates the different options anddecides on the response that is best. Again, the definition of the“best” response can depend on the various parameters of the responsesreceived, including, for example, price. In this case, for purposes ofexample, decision 1244 executed in EU1 1120 determines that the responseprovided by DU2 1108, which is the response from Service Provider B1204, is better. Consequently, decision 1244 informs DU2 1108 of thewinning response. UE1 1120 then engages with DU2 1108, the winning DU,to finalize the transaction with the winning proposed contract.

It should be noted that while UE1 1120 is engaged with DU2 1108 for anew connection with Service Provider B 1204, UE1 1120 can explicitlydecline the service offered by DU1 1110 in step 1226 or a response timerin DU1 1110 can expire. When the timer expires, or the response isexplicitly declined, DU1 1110 can release the connection resourcesaccording to the established subnet associated with UE1 1120. However,in some embodiments DU1 1110 may retain the data for UE1 1120 for futureservice requests.

Consequently, for the purposes of this example, in step 1244 UE1 1120provides a “Contract Request” to step 1246 of DU2 1108 requesting acontract for the response provided by DU2 1108. In step 1246, DU2contacts Transaction Services Network 1104 at step 1248 to obtain theagreement from Service Provider B 1204. In response, in step 1248 ofTransaction Service Network 1104, an irrefutable contract with ServiceProvider B 1204 for the parameters included in SR and Price B isprovided to step 1250 of DU2 1108. In step 1252 DU2 1108 provides thecontract to step 1258 of UE1 1120 and to recordation step 1254 ofTransaction Services Network 1104 and to Service Provider B at step1256. In Step 1254, the irrefutable contract is stored in TDB 1206 ofTransaction Services Network 1104 evidencing the contract. Consequently,the contract is confirmed to UE1 1120, Service Provider B 1204, andstored in TDB 1206. In step 1260, UE1 1120 requests a connection inaccordance with the contract. In step 1262 Service Provider B 1204provides the connection through the subnet in accordance with thecontract to UE1 1120. In step 1264 of UE1 1120, the connection isstarted, and the contracted services begin.

It is worth noting that the SR described above includes a Start Time andan End Time. Depending on the duration between Start Time and End Time,the service agreement can be constructed as a month-long contract, ayear-long contract, an hour contract or any other duration contractmutually agreed between UE1 1120 and Service Provider B 1204. Thisflexibility and in the transactive aspects of embodiments of network1100 according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 12C illustrates an example process 1243 for requesting additionalservices according to some embodiments. As has been discussed above, UE11120 may request a low level of service in the SR requested in step 1218of UE1 1120 in order to support the usage of IoT and PM devices coupledto UE1 1120. However, UE1 1120 may also request higher levels ofservices to support streaming services and other high-bandwidth usages.Since these usages may be of short duration and, in some cases, may bescheduled for future times when rates are lower, an additional SR may bemade to fulfill these requests. In that case, UE1 1120 may see ratesthat are closer to those actually used instead of paying for a largebandwidth that is rarely, if ever, utilized. This arrangement mayfurther release resources to network 1100 that can be used to fulfilladditional requests by other UEs.

As illustrated in FIG. 12C, continuing with the example illustrated inFIG. 12A, once connection is made in steps 1262 and 1264 between ServiceProvider B 1204 and UE1 1120, UE1 1120 may determine a need foradditional bandwidth, usually on a temporary basis (e.g. video streamingan event, downloading a series of movies, etc.) in Step 1265. Theconnection established in step 1264 is maintained throughout to continuesupport of attached devices.

From step 1265, where it is determined that additional service needsare, or will be, required, UE 1120 proceeds to step 1288 where ServiceAvailable Beacons (SAs) are received. In some embodiments, UE1 1120 mayrequest receipt of SAs by pinging network 1100. In the exampleillustrated in FIG. 12C, SAs are received from step 1290 of DU1 1110 andstep 1292 of DU2 1108. In step 1294, UE1 1120 provides an additionalservice request (SR) to step 1296 of DU1 1110 and step 1298 of DU2 1108.As has been discussed above, the SR request includes one or more of thefollowing parameters: a maximum of X bandwidth, maximum of Y latency,maximum of Z bit-error-rate (BER), maximum price, start time, and endtime (BW X, Latency Y, BER Z, Price A, start time, end time). Othercharacteristics of the service may also be requested by UE1 1120.

From step 1296, DU1 1110 provides a response to the SR. Similar to thatdescribed in FIG. 12A, in FIG. 12C DU1 1110 assembles a subnet in step1205 and provides that successful subnet to UE1 1120 in step 1201 and toCU1 1106 in step 1203 of CU1 1106. Step 1205 may be the same as step1230 as described in FIG. 12B. After the subnet is identified in step1205, in step 1209 DU1 1110 requests services from Transaction ServicesNetwork 1104. As illustrated in FIG. 12C, step 1209 messages step 1213of Transaction Services Network 1206 to receive response from theavailable service providers. In step 1215, DU1 1110 determines the bestresponse from those received in step 1209 and sends the best response tostep 1219 of UE1 1120.

From step 1298, DU2 1108 provides a response to the SR. Similar to thatdescribed in FIG. 12A, in FIG. 12C DU2 1108 assembles a subnet in step1207 and provides that successful subnet to UE1 1120 in step 1201 and toCU1 1106 in step 1203 of CU1 1106. Step 1207 may be the same as step1230 as described in FIG. 12B. After the subnet is identified in step1207, in step 1211 DU2 1108 requests services from Transaction ServicesNetwork 1104. As illustrated in FIG. 12C, step 1211 messages step 1213of Transaction Services Network 1206 to receive response from theavailable service providers. In step 1217, DU2 1108 determines the bestresponse from those received in step 1211and sends the best response tostep 1219 of UE1 1120.

In Step 1219 EU1 1120 receives responses from the multiple SRstransmitted by step 1294. In this example, Step 1201 receives a responsefrom DU1 1110 sent by step 1215 and a response from DU2 1108 send bystep 1217. In step 1221, UE1 1120 evaluates the different responses anddecides on the response that is best. Again, the definition of the“best” response can depend on the various parameters of the responsesreceived, including, for example, price. In this case, for purposes ofexample, decision 1221 executed in EU1 1120 determines that the responseprovided by DU1 1110 is better. Consequently, decision 1221 informs DU11110 of the winning response. UE1 1120 then engages with DU1 1110 tofinalize the transaction.

As discussed above, it should be noted that while UE1 1120 is engagedwith DU1 1110 for a new connection according to the response, UE1 1120can explicitly decline the service offered by DU2 1108 or allow aresponse timer in DU2 1108 to expire. When the timer expires, or theresponse is explicitly declined, DU2 1108 can release the connectionresources according to the established subnet associated with UE1 1120.However, in some embodiments DU2 1108 may retain the data for UE1 1120for future service requests.

Consequently, for the purposes of this example, in step 1221 UE1 1120provides a “Contract Request” to step 1223 of DU1 1110 requesting acontract for the response provided by DU1 1110. In step 1227, DU1 1110contacts Transaction Services Network 1104 at step 1225 to obtain theagreement from the Service Provider in the response. In response, instep 1225 of Transaction Service Network 1104, an irrefutable contractwith the Service Provider for the parameters included in SR and Price Bis provided to step 1227 of DU 1110. In step 1232 DU1 1110 provides thecontract to step 1229 of UE1 1120 and to recordation step 1233 ofTransaction Services Network 1104 and to the Service Provider at step1235. In Step 1233, the irrefutable contract is stored in TDB 1206 ofTransaction Services Network 1104 evidencing the contract. Consequently,the contract is confirmed to UE1 1120, the Service Provider, and storedin TDB 1206. In step 1237, UE1 1120 requests a connection in accordancewith the contract. In step 1239 the Service Provider provides theconnection through the subnet in accordance with the contract to UE11120. In step 1241 of UE1 1120, the connection is started, and thecontracted services begin.

The Start Time and End Time of the SR can be used to time provision ofthe services according to the contract. Depending on the durationbetween Start Time and End Time, the service agreement can beconstructed as a month-long contract, a year-long contract, an hourcontract or any other duration contract mutually agreed between UE1 1120and Service Provider B 1204. This flexibility and in the transactiveaspects of embodiments of network 1100 according to the presentdisclosure. In addition, embodiments that can aggregate multipledevices, or even subnets, to create a virtual per-user subnet withbandwidth potentially bigger than any individual Radio BS system cansupport. Effectively eliminated the maximum bandwidth limitation of theRadio BS Network.

As illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12C, embodiments of the presentinvention support competition between service providers. In the examplespresented above, the service requested was of a communications naturespecified in terms of BW X, Latency Y, BER Z, Price B, Start Time andEnd Time, to support Transactive Communications services such as FixedWireless Broadband Internet access. The Price parameter enablescompetition between service providers in a dynamic basis.

Further, in some embodiments, network 1100 can be self-optimized. As anexample, consider UE4 1118, which is currently configured as a meshclient sending all traffic up stream to mesh RU2 1112 via its upstreamradio DM. In some embodiments, UE4 1118 can periodically monitor otherpotentially availability upstream connections for better up stream linkperformance in terms of latency, capacity, and cost. For example, UE41118 may ping through RU1 1114 occasionally to perform this assessment.When appropriate, UE4 1118 may explore multiple upstream links, forexample by executing the process illustrated in FIG. 12C, to yield alower data communication latency and or higher transmission capacity,and or lower overall communications costs.

As illustrated in FIGS. 13A and 13B, the same secure and high faulttolerant Communications Platform infrastructure as illustrated in FIGS.11 and 12A-12C can be used to connect energy supply and demand endpointsto create Power Purchase Agreements (PPA). FIG. 13A illustrates anetworking environment that includes energy management according to someembodiments. As illustrated in FIG. 13A, radio network 1302 providesdata services between an example UE1 1120 and cloud transactive services1104. As is illustrated in FIG. 11, radio network 1302, UE1 1120, andtransactive services 1104 form the illustrated network 1100.

As is illustrated in FIG. 13A, the example UE1 1120 is located at aparticular user site 1304, which also includes power usage 1308. Powerusage 1308 refers to the power receiving system for a particular siteand may include power distribution panels and other equipment thatdistributes power to power usage devices (e.g., any device that usespower) throughout user site 1304. As has been discussed above, a smartpower meter PM 1306 is coupled between power usage 1308 and UE1 1120 tomonitor and report on the power usage at user site 1304.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 13A, a power distribution network 1310is also provided. Power distribution network 1310 includes all of thepower production, power distribution, and power management for a powergrid system. As is further illustrated, power distribution network 1310may include a series of energy nodes (EN) which manage energy deviceswhere power is switched and routed to finally arrive at a power usage1308 of a user site 1304. Many of the nodes that are included in powerdistribution network 1310 may include energy devices, such as solarpanels, wind power generators, and battery storage devices. In FIG. 13A,EN1 1312 and EN2 1314 are illustrated. Although there may be many suchdevices in power distribution network 1310, only two are shown here forsimplicity. EN1 1312 and EN2 1314 may be network gateway devices such asgateway device 880 illustrated in FIGS. 8D and gateway device 950 asillustrated in FIG. 9E. In some embodiments, EN1 1312 and EN2 1314 maybe integrated as discussed further below to include network componentfunctionality such as CU, DU, or RU functionality. EN1 1312 and EN2 1314are coupled to radio network 1302, either directly to RU devices, to DUdevices, or to CU devices. EN1 1312 and EN2 1314 are also coupled withpower components (e.g., energy producers, energy switching devices,etc.) that route power through a power grid (or Power Network) to an enduser.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 13A, transactive services 1104 coupledto radio network 1302 include a transactive energy services 1320 whereservice providers PS1 1316 and PS2 1318 are connected. Again, there maybe many such service providers, however only PS1 1316 and PS2 1318 areillustrated for simplicity.

FIG. 13B illustrates a procedure 1324 operating between UE1 1120,network 1302, EN1 1312, EN2 1314, and transactive services 1104according to some embodiments. Procedure 1324 is an example process forproviding a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to provide power to user site1304. Further, in 13B a routing through a network device is designatedby a heavy connection symbol “⋅”.

As illustrated in FIG. 13B, UE1 1120 determines an energy need in step1326. Since, as discussed above, UE1 1120 monitors the power usage atuser site 1304 and can anticipate user power needs. In step 1328, UE11120 receives energy service available beacons (ESAs) from networkdevices in power distribution network 1310. In some examples, UE1 1120pings for energy services available. In the simplified example of FIG.13B, EN1 1312 in step 1332 provides an ESA to step 1328 of UE1 1120 andEN2 1314 provides an ESA in step 1330 to Step 1328 in UE1 1120.

In step 1338, UE1 1120 can send an energy service request (ESR) to step1334 of EN2 1314 and to step 1336 of EN1 1312. The ESR sent in step 1338can include requested service parameters such as kWh X, Price A, StartTime, End Time and any other parameters necessary to define the energyservices. As such, UE1 1120 can request a level of power usage over along period of time or may request power levels over a short duration,for example providing power to charge an EV at specific times.

As is illustrated in FIG. 13B, once EN1 1312 receives the ESR in step1336, then EN1 evaluates the request in step 1342. Similarly, once EN21314 receives the ESR in step 1334, then EN2 evaluates the request instep 1340. The evaluation performed in steps 1340 and 1342 includes eachof EN1 and EN2 determining a subnet of nodes in power distributionnetwork 1310 to route the requested power to user site 1304. Once eachof steps 1340 and 1342 arrives at a subnet of nodes that fulfill theESR, the subnet is transmitted to step 1344 of transactive energy cloud1320. EN2 1314 the request a service response in step 1346 and EN1 1312requests a service response in step 1354. As illustrated, the serviceproviders PS1 1316 and PS2 1318 receive the request for a response fromstep 1346 and 1348 in step 1350 and provides responses to step 1352 ofEN2 1314 and step 1348 of EN1 1312.

As illustrated in FIG. 13B, EN2 1314 sends the received response in step1356 to UE1 1120 and EN1 1312 sends the receive response to UE1 1120 instep 1358. The responses are received by UE1 1120 in step 1360. Then,UE1 1120 decides between the responses in step 1362. Once the decisionis made, in step 1362 UE1 1120 sends an acceptance to the winningresponse. In this example, the response from EN2 1314 is the winningresponse. Consequently, step 1362 informs step 1364 of EN2. Step 1364 ofEN2 then contacts step 1366 of transactive energy 1320 to request a PPA.The PPA is then received in step 1368 of EN2 1314. In some embodiments,the losing responses may be explicitly declined. Alternatively, thegateways with the losing responses may time-out.

Once the PPA is received in step 1368 in EN2 1314, then EN2 confirms thePPA in step 1370. This confirmation is sent to step 1372 in UE1 1120 andto step 1374 of transactive energy 1320 and to step 1376 of serviceproviders 1316 and 1318. In step 1374 of transactive energy 1320, thePPA is recorded in the PPA database 1322, irrefutably recording thecontract.

In step 1378 of UE1 1120, UE1 1120 requests commencement of the PPA tostep 1380 of the service provider. In step 1380, the winning serviceprovider provides a connect message to step 1382 of UE1 1110 indicatingcommencement of services according to the PPA.

A set of processes and methods that is presented above in FIGS. 12A,12B, and 12C with the example network 1100 illustrated in FIG. 11illustrate the creation and maintenance of dynamic per-user subnetswithin a wireless access network according to some embodiments. Asdiscussed, each of these subnets are created with specific performanceparameters, each serving a user's specific need at a specific time. Thesubnet performance parameters are modified as the user's service needschanged. Network 1100 dynamically reconfigures the network topologythrough reconfiguration of network elements to be mesh gateways, meshrouters, and mesh clients with different network connections maintainingall per-user subnets and to redistribute traffic as the networkcondition require. Such reconfiguration, as discussed above, canrebalance the traffic flow pattern to maximize the mesh networkperformance This can also be used to extend the mesh network rangecoverage. Further, as is discussed above, network 1100 can recover fromcommunication link failures to provide self-organized, self-optimized,and self-healed wireless mesh access network capabilities previously notavailable in cellular radio access networks.

Further described above is a set of processes and methods to aggregatemultiple subnets to form virtual channel bandwidth, which is potentiallybigger than any individual Radio BS can support. This effectivelyeliminates maximum bandwidth limitation from the Radio BS network. Witheach UE gateway capable of receiving bandwidth from multiple subnets,the maximum bandwidth is limited only by the available bandwidth fromnetwork devices that are within radio range of the UE gateway.

Additionally, a set of processes and methods to provide a fault tolerantconnectivity infrastructure connecting service providers and serviceconsumers is discussed, with respect to FIG. 12A, for example. Theseprocedures facilitate communication between network elements and enablestransactive service agreements between service providers and serviceconsumption endpoints. As is illustrated in FIGS. 12A and 12C,Transactive Communications service agreements, and other transactiveservice agreements are facilitated. Further, as is illustrated in FIGS.13A and 13B, the establishment of transactive energy service agreements(e.g., PPAs) is enabled when incorporated with a power distributionnetwork.

In some embodiments, the methods disclosed above may be built on top ofa high-performance fast signal locking radio that enables ahigh-performance radio system that can support multiple per-user subnetchannels each with specific performance characteristic such asbandwidth, latency, and BER dynamically balancing between channelperformance, bandwidth, and coverage range. Such network devices areenabled in a stackable radio communicating device modules with a centerconnection core, equipped with a PCIe bus, that can be deployed as partof the host gateway or as a remote unit with or without a companionsolar power device module, also stackable with other device modules.

Another aspect according to the present disclosure is the institution ofsecurity services to a radio network such as radio network 1100illustrated in FIG. 11. In particular, the linking of IoT devices to UEgateways of radio network 1100 provides a large security risk. In 2015the IoT Security Foundation was launched to bring industry focus on thesecurity requirements of deploying IoT devices. It released an IoTSecurity Thread Map which is included here as FIG. 14A, whichillustrates an IoT Security Thread Map. (Robin.Duke-Woolley and SyedZaeem Hosain, “Security for the Internet of Things: Introduction,”Beecham Research Ltd., December 2015). It is clear from the mapillustrated in FIG. 14A that the IoT security threads are many andcomplex. Many articles have speculated on how these security issues canbe solved, but no practical and cost-effective solutions have come tothe market to address the broad issues outlined in FIG. 14A as yet.(Fagan et al., NISTIR 8259). The IoT Security Thread Map of FIG. 14Aillustrates various threats to networks from IoT devices connected tothe network.

FIG. 14B provides an European Self-Sovereign Identity Framework (ESSIF)Functional Overview that summarizes the high-level functionalrequirements of an ESSIF to create and manage identity including IoTdevice identities. This was released by the European BlockchainPartnership (EBP) in July 2019. (Daniel.Du.Seuil, “European SelfSovereign Identity Framework,” June, 2019 [retrieved fromwww.eesc.europa.eu on Sep. 11, 2020)). It is apparent from FIG. 14B thatthe focus is rather narrow on identity creation and verification. Whileidentity management is important, it has yet to present solutions toaddress the broad security issues outlined in the IoT Security ThreadMap illustrated in FIG. 14A.

In 2001 Know Your Customers (KYC) laws were introduced as part of thePatriot Act, which was passed after 9/11 to provide a variety of meansto deter terrorist behavior and to stop money laundering. In essence,the law was created to urge banks and financial institutions to getcloser with their customers and their banking activities to assess ifthey pose any unusual behavior and represent terrorist thread. While themajority of the KYC practices were done in-person, FIG. 14C (In-PersonKYC vs. Online KYC) from Global Banking and Finance Review, “Remote KYC:A Competitive Advantage for Mobile Only Banking,” February, 2017[retrieved from www.GlobalBankingandfinance.com on Sep. 11, 2020],illustrates the feasibility and effectiveness of automating KYC measuresonline. In view of the broad threat vectors outlined in the IoT SecurityThread Map of FIG. 14A , and the narrow focus of the European BlockchainPartnership (EBP) as summarized in the ESSIF Functional Overviewillustrated in FIG. 14B, more innovations such as the KYC technique areurgently needed to mitigate the emerging IoT security issues.

FIG. 15A illustrates a secured network environment on network 1100according to the present invention. The example network 1100 illustratedin FIG. 11 is used for illustration of the security protocols accordingto some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 11and FIG. 15A, CU1 1106 is coupled to a cloud service 1104 and to DU11110 and DU2 1108. In the example provided here, DU2 1108 is furtherconnected by radio link to DU1 1110. DU1 1110 is connected by radio linkto RU1 1114. DU2 1108 is connected to RU2 1112. RU1 1114 is connected toUE1 1120 and to UE3 1116. RU2 1112 is connected to UE4 1118. Thesenetwork devices have been discussed above with reference to FIG. 11 andFIGS. 13A.

As illustrated in FIG. 15A, UE1 1120 is connected to a series of localend-point devices. As shown in the example of FIG. 15A, UE1 1120 isconnected to IoT devices 1520 and 1524 and a smart power meter 1518. Anadministrative device 1522, which is a UE device such as a cell phone,laptop, tablet, or other computer, is also connected to UE1 1120 locallyor remotely via network 1100. Similarly, UE3 is connected to IoT devices1526 and 1530 as well as administrative device 1528. Additionally, UE41118 is connected to IoT 1532, PM 1536, and administrative device 1534.As has been discussed above, any of UE1 1120, UE3 1116, and UE4 1118 maythemselves be connected to other gateways that themselves are connectedto further devices. Those connected gateways can also be included in thesecurity system as described below.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 15A, UE1 1120 includes a security DM1512. UE3 1116 includes a security DM 1514. UE4 1118 includes a securityDM 1516. DU1 1110 includes a security DM 1506. DU2 1108 includes asecurity DM 1508. CU1 1106 includes a security DM 1502. Each of thesesecurity DMs include a security store that stores device IDs and a KCNregistry with smart predictive device profiles as is further discussedbelow. KCN registries can be classified as Root KCN registries andAbstracted KCN registries. In some examples, a Root KCN registry withsmart predictive device profiles can be part of security DMs 1512, 1514,and 1516 implemented in each UEs 1120, 1116, and 1118, for example, toprotect and manage all connected devices connected to each UE. A RootKCN registry with smart predictive device profiles can also be part ofthe security DM 1502 implemented in each CU 1106 to protect and manageall DUs, RUs, and UEs connected to CU 1106. An Abstracted KCN registrycan be part of the security DM 1508 and 1506 implemented in each DU 1108and 1110, respectively, to consolidate, summarized, and abstract RootKCN registries associated with UEs connected to the DU. In addition, anAbstracted KCN registry can also be part of the security DM 1502implemented in CU1 1106 to consolidate, summarize, and abstractAbstracted KCN registries associated with DUs 1108 and 1110 connected toCU 1106.

As is illustrated in FIG. 15A, security DM 1506 of DU1 1110 include aroot KCN registry or may be an Abstracted KCN registry. Similarly,security 1508 of DU2 1108 may include a root KCN registry or anabstracted KCN registry. Alternatively, DU1 1110 and DU2 1108 can, forexample, be Blockchain “light nodes” and are charged with maintenance ofAbstracted KCN registries. Consequently, the KCN block chain registriesare administered in DU1 1110 and DU2 1108. Additionally, administrativedevices may be attached to DU1 1110 and DU2 1108 to allow a systemadministrator to access services on DU1 1110 and DU2 1108. In somecases, a physical device may be attached to the DU or the UI of DU maysuffice. The Root KCN registries with smart predictive device providesin UE1 1120, UE3 1514, UE4 1118, and CU1 1106 may be Blockchain “fullnodes,” as is discussed further below. In general, CU1 1106 may includean abstracted KCN registry while gateways UE1 1120, UE3 1514, and UE41118 may include root KCN registries, otherwise known as Blockchain“root nodes”. In general, all root nodes may be implemented asBlockchain “full nodes” that originate the Blockchain registries.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 15A, energy gateway devices EN1 1312and EN2 1314 are further illustrated. Energy gateway device EN1 1312 isillustrated as coupled to RU1 1114 while energy gateway device EN2 1314is illustrated as being coupled to RU1 1114. As is further illustrated,EN1 1312 includes a security DM 1504 and EN2 1314 includes a security DM1510. The security DMs associated with each of the network devicesincludes security stores that include KCN registries and device IDs thatare coupled to those devices.

Embodiments according to this disclosure may employ the KYC principal inthat the devices are known and recorded in a KCN registry. Embodimentsmay rely on the user at each of gateway devices UE1 1120, UE3 1116, andUE4 1118 to authorize the devices attached to them and to learn from thedevices themselves what other devices they typically communicate with.As is discussed further below, UE1 1120 is coupled to administrativedevice 1522 that functions to register each of the devices. Similarly,UE3 1116 is coupled to administrative devices 1528 and UE4 1118 isconnected to administrative device 1534. If someone tries to hack thedevice, it will likely be originated from outside the usualcommunication circles. Network 1100 can then detect such a situation anddeal with it appropriately. If one of the devices attached to a UEgateway were compromised somehow, for example turned into part of abotnet, used to launch a denial-of service attack (DDoS), or otheractivity, the affected UE gateway can break communications between theaffected device with Network 1100 to disrupt the hacking activity andalert the appropriate user and network operators.

As discussed above, when a UE gateway DM is installed and registeredwith wireless mesh network 1100, the user administration device,typically a smartphone or PC, is associated with the Gateway DM. Theadministration device will be consulted, if needed, for authorization ofadmitting new devices to and protected by the Gateway DM. For example,UE1 1120 is connected to administrative device 1522 which is used by auser to authorize DMs in UE1 1120 as well as devices attached to UE11120. Similarly, when a network device such as a UE gateway, an RU, or aDU is seeking authorization to join the network 1100, the associated CUsecurity DM will relay the request to the associated CU administrationdevice. A CU can only be authorized to join the network 1100 by thenetwork 1100 administrator.

As discussed in further detail below, embodiments according to thisdisclosure provide a collection of methods, processes to maintain asecure identity registry, and a Known Communicators Network (KCN)registry with smart predictive device profiles in a secure data store.As illustrated in FIG. 15A, each of security DMs in the network (e.g.security DM 1512 of UE1 1120, security DM 1506 of DU1 1110) may includea security store that maintains device IDs and KCN registries, eitherroot registries or abstracted registries, to maintain a blockchain.These embodiments control and track all transactions authorizingconnected devices to join the identity registry and track the KnownCommunicators Network (KCN) activities for each of the device admittedto the registry to secure them. The secure data store is implementedwith a streamlined Blockchain infrastructure implemented by the securityDMs as illustrated in FIG. 15A, as outlined below.

A Blockchain can be rooted in each UE gateway to implement the Root KCNregistry with smart predictive profiles to secure all connected devicesthat each UE gateway serves. A Blockchain can also be rooted in CU1 1106to implement the Root KCN registry with smart predictive device profilesto secure all connected DUs, RUs, and UE gateways that it serves. Insome cases, DUs connected to the UE gateways will join the Root KCNregistries rooted in the UEs to summarize, consolidate, and abstractdata from the Root KCN registries to form Abstracted KCN registries. Inother cases, DUs may form Root KCN registries to manage RUs paired withthe DU, UEs that it serves, and CUs that it relies on to connected tothe upstream networks. Abstracted KCN registries will be joined byconnected CUs to further summarize, consolidate, and abstract theregistries at the CU. For example, in network 1100 as illustrated inFIG. 15A, UE1 1120 maintains a root KCN registry with smart predictivedevice profiles in security 1512. DU1 1110 can itself maintain a rootKCN registry in security 1506 to replicate the KCN registry rooted inUE1 1120 or may maintain an abstracted KCN registry in security 1506.Further, CU1 1106 may keep an abstracted KCN registry from the root KCNregistries on UE1 1120, UE3 1116, and UE4 1118.

The Blockchains supporting the Abstracted KCNs will operate in “lightmode” to keep an essential subset of the transaction data whileminimizing processing requirements. As illustrated in FIG. 15A, forexample, DU1 1110 in security 1506 maintains the KCN registry insecurity 1506 to summarize and abstract all KCN transactions captured byEN1 1312 and by UE1 1120 and UE3 1116. As such, DU1 1110 requestsregistries from security DM 1504 of EN1 1312 and registries fromsecurity DM 1512 of UE1 1120 and DM 1514 of UE3 1116. As a consequence,all subtending DM's, and connected IoT devices that connected through UEGateways are admitted to the network via the UE Gateway. Blockchainpruning can be managed periodically by all KCN registries to contain theprocessing and storage required to maintain the Blockchains.

FIG. 15B illustrates an example of a security 1550. Security 1550 asillustrated in FIG. 15B illustrates a full node or root node such assecurity 1512, 1514, or 1516 that is kept on a UE/Gateway such asUE11120, UE3 1116, and UE4 1118, respectively, as illustrated in FIG.15A. Security blocks for other network nodes such as those illustratedin FIG. 15A are discussed further below.

As illustrated in FIG. 15B, security 1550 can include a KCN registry1552, a security access control list (ACL) 1554, security roles 1556,and security credentials 1558. An ACL 1552 provides a list of accesscontrol entities which identifies a entities that are allowed access andspecifies the access rights allowed, denied, or audited for that entity.Security roles 1556 define the parameters allowing access to data,particularly defining privileges that are assigned connected devices.

FIG. 15B further illustrates KCN registry 1552 that illustrates a rootKCN registry which may be provided on a UE gateway. KCN registry 1552includes a block 1562 with KCN identities 1562, of which 1562-n fordevice n is specifically illustrated. In block 1562, one KCN ID for eachdevice registered are provided. FIG. 15B illustrates KCN ID 1562-n,which provides the identification of a random device n of the N devices.As illustrated, KCN identity 1562-n provides identification for eachdevice that includes multiple levels of security. At the low securitylevel, the KCN identity 1562-n can include a Uniform Resource Locator(URL) 1590. Increasing in security, KCN ID 1562-n may include a devicemedia access control (MAC) address 1588, a device serial number 1586, aglobally unique identifier (GUID) 1584, a public key infrastructure(PKI) public key 1582, and a Blockchain validation 1580. KCN identity1562 includes identifications for each device recorded in Root KCNregistry 1552-n.

As is further provided in block 1560, KCN registry 1552 includes acontract ledger 1564. Contract ledger 1564 stores all of the contracts(e.g., transactive communications contracts, transactive energycontracts, or other contracts). In Root KCN registry 1552, full copiesof the contracts may be stored for each of the devices having a KCNidentity stored in KCN identity 1562.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 15B, KCN registry 1552 furtherincludes a predictive device profile 1568. Predictive device profile1568 includes a communications network list 1572 and an activities log1570 for each device identified by a KCN identification stored in KCNidentity 1562. As illustrated in FIG. 15B, communications network 1572lists access permissions 1592 for each recorded KCN identificationnumber (one for each communicator that communicates with device n). Asan example, in FIG. 15B permissions 1592-1 through 1592-N are listed forKCN IDs 1 through N. As is illustrated, permissions are granted forincoming and output communications from each communicator with device n.In particular, some devices are allowed only sending incoming data todevice n, other communicators have permissions for only receiving datafrom device n, and some are allowed both sending incoming data to andreceiving outgoing data from device n.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 15B, activities log 1570 records inblock 1594 all activities device n had associated with communicator KCNID C. As shown in FIG. 15B, each communication with communicator KCN Cby device n identified by KCN ID n is recorded by date and time, theamount of data transferred, and whether the data is incoming or outgoingfrom device n. By tracing the activities of device n with eachcommunicator authorized in the KCN registry, it can be determined ifabnormal activities are occurring and steps can later be taken toprevent malignant activities involving the device. Note that dependingon the affiliation of the communicator with Network 1100, the associatedKCN ID may not have the highest level of security as defined in KCN IDblock 1562.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 15B, Root KCN registry 1552 mayfurther include KCN ID management 1574. Management 1574 includes keymanagement 1576 and KCN ID management 1578. Key management includesfunctions such as assigning unique IDs and security levels for eachdevice. Further, KCN ID management 1578 insures that the device keys andother data are stored in the Root KCN registry 1552 and with registrieson other connected devices.

FIG. 16A illustrates implementation of security 1550 as illustrated inFIG. 15B on example network nodes as illustrated in FIG. 15A. In theexample illustrated in FIG. 16A, a root node 1552 as illustrated in FIG.15B is implemented in security 1512 of UE1 1120; a replicated full node1604 is implemented in security 1506 of DU1 1110; an abstracted (lightnode) registry 1620 implemented on security 1508 of DU2 1108; and afurther abstracted light node 1622 implemented on security 1502 of CU11106. For privacy preferences, the UE gateway user can select to shareall, a subset of, or none of the transaction data on the entire UEgateway or by each protected device coupled to the UE gateway.

As is illustrated in FIG. 16A, security 1512, UE root KCN registry 1552is implemented with Blockchain “full node.” As is illustrated, UE 1120includes a blockchain secured link 1602 with DU1 1110 that implementssecurity 1506. As discussed above, DU1 1110 implements a registry 1604that replicates the KCN registry data captured by security 1512 of UE11120, which includes a copy of root KCN registry 1560 and predictivedevice profile 1568.

As is further illustrated, security 1508 of DU2 1108 includes anabstracted (light node) KCN registry 1620. DU2 1108 is coupled to UE1120 through a Blockchain secured link 1606. As is illustrated, KCNregistry 1620 illustrates an abstracted block 1608 with an abstractedcontract ledger 1612 and KCN identity 1610. Block 1608 includes not thefull data, but a subset of the data that is included in block 1560 ofRoot KCN registry 1552. Additionally, KCN registry 1620 includes anabstracted predictive device profile 1614 with an abstractedcommunications network 1616 and an abstracted activities list 1618.Abstracted KCN registry 1620 includes a subset and consolidated orabstracted version of the full data that is included in KCN registry1552.

Further, in some cases, CU1 1106 includes security 1502 with a furtherabstracted KCN registry 1622. In the example illustrated in FIG. 16A,abstracted KCN registry 1622 includes an abstracted predictive deviceprofile 1624 with abstracted communication network 1626 and activitieslist 1628. This abstracted data may be consolidated data without beingattributed to a particular KCN ID, consequently data from block 1560 isnot present.

FIG. 16B further illustrates network 1100 as illustrated in FIG. 15A. Asis illustrated, CU1 1106 is coupled through fiber connections 1654 tointernet 1104, which includes video monitoring services 1640. As isillustrated in FIG. 16B, UE1 1120 is coupled through DU1 1110 to CU11106; UE3 1116 is coupled through DU1 1110 to CU1 1106; and UE4 1118 iscoupled through DU2 1108 to CU1 1106. As illustrated in the example ofFIG. 16B, UE1 1120 is therefore coupled to Cam A 1642 and to Phone A1644. UE3 1116 is coupled to Cam C 1646 and Cam B 1648 as well as PhoneB 1652. UE4 1118 is coupled to Cam D 1650.

In an example, UE1 1120 includes a root KCN registry 1552 wherepredictive device profile 1568 includes a profile for Cam A 1642 andtherefore includes the device information (e.g., manufacturer,description—indoor/outdoor, model #), KCN ID (serial #, MAC address,etc.), contract services (monitor service 1640), permissions (uploadonly), network (LAN/WAN) access from phone A 1644, and other data.

UE3 1116 includes a root KCN registry 1552 with profiles for Cam C 1646and Cam B 1648. The smart predictive profile from Cam C 1646 includesdevice information (e.g., manufacturer, description—indoor/outdoor,model #), KCN ID (serial#, MAC address, etc.), network (LAN/WAN) accessfrom phone B 1652, OTA SW update from monitor service 1640, and otherinformation. The smart predictive profile from Cam B 1648 includesdevice information (e.g., manufacturer, description—indoor/outdoor,model #), KCN ID (serial#, MAC address, etc), contract services (monitorservice 1630), permissions (upload only), network (LAN/WAN) access fromphone B 1652, OTA SW update from monitor services 1640, and otherinformation.

UE4 1118 includes a root KCN registry 1552 with profiles for Cam D 1650.The smart predictive profile from Cam D 1650 includes device information(e.g., manufacturer, description—indoor/outdoor, model #), KCN ID(serial#, MAC address, etc), contract services (monitor service 1630),permissions (upload only), network (LAN/WAN) access from phone A 1644,and other information.

DU1 1110 includes an abstracted profile for Cam A 1642, Cam B 1648, andCam C 1646. DU2 1108 includes an abstracted profile for Cam D 1650. CU11106 includes a further abstracted profile for Cam A 1642, Cam B 1648,Cam C 1646, and Cam D 1650.

In addition to the Blockchain security as illustrated above,communications between nodes can further utilize an Open ConnectivityFoundation (OCF) security framework and data model as illustrated inFIG. 16C. The OCF approach to data communications and security isresource oriented, peer-to-peer architecture that abstracts definitionsof communicating devices to appropriate transport channels withappropriate data structures. The OCF data model can operate over variouscommunications protocol to transport data securely between devices. TheOCF specification for version 2.2.0, released in July of 2020 can beretrieved from Open Connectivity Foundation, Inc. One skilled in the artwill recognize that the current description is not limited to using theOCF foundation and that the OCF platform is used for exemplary purposesonly. Other platforms for communications between devices can also beused.

FIG. 16C illustrates an example device 1660 interacting with a UEgateway device server device 1662. In this example, device 1660 may bean end-point device and therefore does not include a KCN registry whileservice device 1662 includes a root KCN registry 1550. Consequently,FIG. 16C may, as an example, illustrate interaction between smartphoneas an Admin device 1522 and UE1 1120 trying to access an IoT device1520, as illustrated in FIG. 15A. In this example, the smartphone Admindevice 1522 follows the OCF secure client framework 1660 and UE1 1120follows the KCN registry over OCF secure server framework 1662.

As is illustrated in FIG. 16C, server device 1662 includes aconnectivity abstraction block 1674, a transport security session layer1676, an application logic block 1678, and a secured virtual resourcesblock 1680. Similarly, device 1660 includes a connectivity abstractionblock 1664, a transport security session layer 1666, an applicationlogic block 1678, and a secure virtual resources block 1672. Inoperation, device 1660 first establishes a network connection withserver 1662 between connectivity abstraction 1664 of device 1660 andconnectivity abstraction 1674 of server 1662. Device 1660 can thenexchange messages, with or without a mutually authenticated securechannel, with server 1662 between transport security session layer 1666of device 1660 and transport security session layer 1676 of server 1662.

In the case of secured transmission, server 1680 authenticates andmaintains security with KCN registry 1552 of security 1552, along withstandard OCF security protocols. Application logic 1668 of device 1660includes a resource model and message model that allows its operation.Application logic 1678 of server 1662 includes resource modeling andmessage modeling as well as secured resource management to handleBlockchain security 1550. Consequently, in accordance with embodimentsof the present invention, as illustrated in FIG. 16C, the Blockchainsecurity is included with the OCF security protocols to provide aBlockchain security link between device 1660 and server 1662.

FIGS. 17A, 17B, and 17C illustrate initialization of devices into thenetwork illustrated in FIG. 15A. At system initiation time of a DU,after the Blockchain is created, registers an administration device. AllCU's, DU's, RU's and UE Gateways the DU connects to will be invited tojoin the DU Blockchain and each of these invitations will be authorizedby the DU system administrator through the administration device. FIG.17A illustrates an initiation process 1700 of a DU, for example DU1 1110as illustrated in FIG. 15A. As illustrated in FIG. 17A, in step 1702,the DU is initiated. For purposes of discussion, DU1 1110 will be usedas an example. in step 1704 the DU creates a Blockchain, which for DU11110 includes creating secure virtual resource block 1568 as illustratedin FIGS. 15B or 15C including creation of a KCN registry. In step 1706,the DU registers an administrative device that will be used to authorizeactions performed on the DU, including initialization of other networkdevices into the Blockchain. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 15Aadministrative device 1566 is registered to DU1 1110. This registrationprocess can be accomplished by a network administrator working with DU11110. In step 1708, the DU then invites other network devices to jointhe Blockchain created by DU1 1110.

Step 1708 includes multiple sub-steps. First, the DU will pair itselfwith accessible RUs and invite them to join. Second, it will announcethe combined DU/RU capabilities, such as bandwidth, to join accessibleCU clusters. If one CU can serve the combined capabilities, the DU willjoin that CU cluster and invite that CU to join its KCN registry. Else,the DU will join multiple CU clusters and invite all the associated CUsto join its KCN registry forming the potential virtual radio BSs thatthe DU is part of. Once that is done, the DU will broadcast ServiceAvailable signal to the area and wait for UE requests. The DU will theninvite the UE that it is serving to join its KCN registry.

FIG. 17B illustrates a process 1710 for joining further devices to theBlockchain administered by the DU device, for example DU1 1110 asdiscussed above. As illustrated in FIG. 17B, in step 1712 a new deviceis requesting service and detected by the DU. For purposes of thisexample, process 1580 may be operated on DU1 1110 and the detecteddevice that is requesting service can be UE1 1120 and agreement has beenreach that DUE 1110 will render to requested service to UE1 1120. Inaddition, this is the first time DU1 1110 is serving UE1 1120, in step1714, DU1 1110 invites UE1 1120 to join the Blockchain maintained by DU11110. In step 1716, DU1 1110 receives a request to join from UE1 1120.In step 1718, DU1 1110 requests authorization from admin device 1566. Instep 1720, the authorization is received from administrative device1566. In step 1722, DU1 1110 enters UE1 1110 into the Blockchain. Itshould be noted that steps 1718 and 1720 are only needed if in step 1716UE1 1120 indicates that this is the first time UE1 1120 is joining thenetwork 1100.

After a UE Gateway such as UE1 1120 has been accepted into theBlockchain of a DU such as DU1 1110, the UE Gateway can then create itsown root directory to securely join devices connected through it to thecommunications network that includes the DU. For purposes of thisexample, specific discussion of interaction between DU1 1110 and UE11120 is provided. However, one skilled in the art will recognize thatthe processes are applicable to any DU and UE combination.

As has been discussed above, when UE 1120 is first powered up, a RootKCN registry is created and an administrative device 1522 is registeredto UE1 1120. Administrative device 1522 is usually a smartphone or atablet or a PC. At the time the UE is registered and first powered up,the user provides either a cellular number or an email address for theregistration of an administration device for the UE. An administrationdevice registration message will then be sent to either the cellularnumber or email address provided by the user. The user can then registeradministration devices desired by responding to the administrationdevice registration message. Only a small, limited number of deviceswill be registered as administration devices for a particular UE such asUE1 1120. All referred devices coupled to the UE need to be authorizedby the user via the designated administration device associated with theUE. FIG. 17C illustrates start-up process 1730 of a UE, using UE1 1110as an example. As illustrated in FIG. 17C, in step 1732 UE1 1120 ispowered on. In step 1734, UE1 1120 creates a Root KCN registry and pairswith an administrative device by registering it in the KCN registry asthe administration device. As illustrated in FIG. 15A, administrativedevice 1522 is paired with UE1 1120. In step 1736, UE1 joins network1100, for example as is illustrated in FIG. 17C. In step 1738, UE1 joinsthe Blockchain by requesting entry of DU1 1110. Consequently, in step1738, a gateway DM on UE1 1120 can send a device ID and KCN registry toDU1 1110 to register UE1 1110 to the Blockchain network.

The KCN registry, for example registry 1552 on FIG. 15B, captures allcommunication partners to and from devices connected to the UE gateway,for example UE1 1120, for a device initialization period as defined in asystem configuration preference. Once the period expires, the systemwill notify the user who authorized the particular device via thedesignated administration device about the completion of the KCNinitialization period, the actual KCN list of known communicators forauthorization to lock down the KCN or extend the initialization period.This process is further illustrated below with respect to FIGS. 18A and18B.

Once the KCN registry for a particular device, for example Cam B 1648 asillustrated in FIG. 16B, is locked down, all communications TO and FROMthe Cam B 1648 connected to the UE gateway, UE 3 1116 as illustrated inFIG. 16B, will be checked against the local root KCN registry. If notregistered locally, the upstream Abstracted KCN registries in upstreamDU1 1110 will be checked. If not registered in any of the upstream DUsthat serve UE3 1116, the Abstracted KCN registries of upstream CUsserving UE3 1116 will also be checked. Communications will be allowed ifthe communicator is listed in any of the KCN registries associated withthe specific device, otherwise the communication request may be sent tothe user for direction if that is the option the user chose whenauthorizing the Cam B camera 1642 connected to UE1 gateway 1120. If thecommunication is found in the Abstracted KCN, the local Root KCNregistry will be updated. If the user is contacted and the userexplicitly allows the current transaction, the request will go throughand the KCN registry updated, otherwise the transaction will be denied,and an exception logged. If the user elected to leave the KCN opened,the system will not LOCK down the KCN and will authorize alltransactions and log the activities. This may be useful in the case of aPC device that visits many different sites and the user can look intothe KCN table periodically manually if needed.

As discussed above, in some embodiments, the KCN registry is maintainedin addition to industry accepted security platforms such as the OpenConnectivity Foundation (OCF) security framework that provides deviceidentity management, resource access control and transport securityinfrastructure. FIG. 16C above illustrates an example infrastructurewith a KCN registry incorporated into an OCF security framework. The OCFsecurity framework provides the Secure Virtual Resource infrastructureto support security resources, such as identity management, resourceaccess control and secure transport services. The KCN registry can beintegrated as a Secure Virtual Resource accessed through the OCFResource Model. Alternatively, Blockchain DMs can be standalone withoutoperating within a security platform such as the OCF security framework.

FIGS. 18A and 18B outline an example of on-boarding process 1800 of anIoT device that is connected to a UE gateway device in accordance withthe principles discussed above. In particular, for illustrative purposesonly, FIGS. 18A and 18B illustrate onboarding IoT device 1520 with UE1120 to the Blockchain operated by security DM 1512 of UE1 1120 andwhich includes security DM 1506 operated on DU1 1110. As discussedabove, a root KCN registry 1552 is maintained on UE1 1120 while areplicated KCN registry is maintained on DU1 1110. IoT device 1520 maybe, for example, a camera system such as a Nest® camera. As is outlinedbelow, IoT device 1520 can be connected to the Gateway DM in UE1 1120securely without cumbersome User ID password pairs. As discussed above,a routing through a network device is designated by a heavy connectionsymbol “⋅”.

As illustrated by process 1800 in FIG. 18A, in step 1802 executed on IoT1520, IoT 1520 requests a connection to UE1 1120. In some embodiments,IoT 1520 may be connected through the WiFi DM of UE1 1120, however IoT1520 may be connected to UE1 1120 through other connections (e.g., wirednetwork, Bluetooth, or other connection). In step 1804 executed in UE11120 the connection request from IoT 1520 is received by UE1 1120. If aWiFi DM of UE1 1120 is being used for the connection, the WiFi DM mayuse techniques such as geofencing to minimize the risks of capturingdevices from neighbor sites. In some embodiments, the WiFi supported byUE1 1120 is fully open and the connection request can be granted rightaway. In many cases, there is no need for SSID/password to access sincesecurity will be provided via the administration of the secureBlockchain. With regard to IoT devices that require a security step, instep 1804 that security procedure can be followed through UE1 1120 toconnect IoT 1520 with UE1 1120. Consequently, in step 1804 UE1 1120indicates to step 1806 of IoT 1520 that the connection has been made anddevice authorization is pending. Requesting connection in step 1802begins an initiation period where devices, for example IoT services1508, are monitored and logged. During that period, as outlined below,all devices in communication with IoT 1522 is identified. It should benoted that the OCF platform as discussed above with respect to FIG. 16Ccan be used for the communication between IoT device 1520 and UE1 1120.

In Step 1808 of UE1 1120, UE1 1120 recognizes that this is the firsttime IoT device 1520 is connected to UE1 1120. Consequently, UE1 1120alerts admin device 1522, which alerts the user of IoT 1522. In manyexamples, admin device 1522 is the user's smartphone that has beenconfigured as administration device 1522 for UE1 1120. Note that thereis no need for the user to log into UE1 1120, since the systemidentifies the smartphone as the authorized administrative device 1522and registered in the KCN registry, as illustrated in FIG. 17C, UE1 1120will contact the smartphone directly for authorization of device 1520.

The authorization request from step 1808 is received into step 1810operating on administrative device 1522. In step 1812 on administrativedevice 1522, the user authorizes the Gateway DM of UE1 1120 to admit IoT1520 to join the Blockchain of network 1100. Administrated device 1522then sends the authorization to step 1814 of UE1 1120.

Once the authorization from administrative device 1522 is received instep 1814 on UE1 1120. In step 1816, the Gateway DM of UE1 1120 createsa digital identity, or registry entry, for IoT 1520 with security DM1512 supporting Root KCN registry 1552 through the OCF SecurityFramework as described in FIGS. 16A and 16C. A registry entry with theidentity and KCN entry in step 1818 is sent to step 1820 of the securityDM in DU1 1110. The registry entry transmitted to DU1 1110 may be anabstraction of the registry entry created by UE1 1120 or may be the fullregistry entry. The device and communication data is now stored in KCNregistry 1552 of UE1 1120 and can be replicated in KCN registry 1604 ofDU1 1110. It should be noted that an abstracted and consolidated KCNregistry such as KCN registry 1620 illustrated in FIG. 16C can beprovided. In step 1820, DU1 1110 receives the KCN registry from UE1 1120and updates the stored replicated KCN registry from UE1 1120. In theparticular example illustrated FIGS. 18A and 18B, DU1 1110 receives andstores a replicated KCN registry 1604 as illustrated in FIG. 16A.

Over time, DU1 1110 collects a lot of device information across allGateway DM's connected to it. From the MAC address, it can gathermanufacturer and types of device information. As has been discussedabove, the security DM 1506 of DU1 1110 can monitor and recordcommunication activities across multiple UE gateways. In someembodiments, security DM 1506 may employ Machine Learning capabilitiesthat can incrementally refine the identity information and communicationactivities for each device over time without bothering the users of suchdevices and able to predict how a particular device is going to behavebased on data collected and abstracted from other similar devicesconnected to it through other UE gateways.

In step 1820 of DU1 1110, DU1 1110 validates and stores the Blockchaintransaction and new device information for IoT 1520 in its localreplicated identity registry in security 1506 as illustrated in FIG.16A. Once IoT 1520 is identified in the KCN registry of DU1 1110, thenIoT 1520 can communicate through network 1100 to cloud services 1104.Consequently, In step 1822 of IoT 1520, IoT 1520 requests connection toIoT services 1508 in cloud services 1104. If IoT 1520 is a Nest® camera,for example, then IoT 1520 in step 1822 indicates it is ready to connectto the Nest® network to stream some captured video for storage in IoTservices 1508. The request from IoT 1520 is received in step 1824 in UE11120, which forwards the request to step 1826 of DU1 1110. Since IoT1520 is now registered in KCN registry of both DU1 1110 and UE1 1120, instep 1826 DU1 1110 forwards the request to step 1828 of cloud services1104 where IoT device services 1508 can be established.

In step 1830, the Gateway DM updates KCN registry for IoT 1520 toinclude a TO network entry in activities 1570 of root KCN registry 1552on UE1 1120. The KCN update is received into step 1832 of DU1 1110,where DU1 1110 validates and stores the Blockchain transaction initiatedby step 1822 and updates the activities 1570 of the replicated KCNregistry for IoT 1520 stored in DU1 1110, which then replicates the KCNregistry 1552 of UE1 1120.

In step 1828, the IoT services 1508 (e.g., the Nest® network) receivesthe connection request from IoT 1520 and finds an appropriate storageaddress that IoT 1522 can use to, for example, stream its video. Cloudservices 1104 and IoT services 1508, in step 1834, sends the addressesand access grant back to step 1836 of in UE1 1120, which forwards thegrant to step 1838 in IoT 1520. Note that for simplicity, the sign-onprocess, which is device dependent, between IoT 1520 and IoT services1508, if any, has been omitted in process flow 1800.

As discussed above, in step 1836 of UE1 1120, the Gateway DM of UE1 1120discovers the grant message from IoT services 1508 and related thatmessage to IoT 1520. In step 1840, UE1 1520 updates the KCN registry forIoT 1520 with a FROM IoT services 1508 entry in activities 1570 of thepredictive profile 1568, as illustrated in FIG. 15B. The KCN registryupdate formed in step 1840 is received in step 1842 in DU1 1110. In step1842, DU1 1110 validates and stores the Blockchain transaction andupdates the KCN registry 1838 for the replicated KCN registry stored inIoT 1520 with the FROM IoT Services 1508 entry.

Switching to FIG. 18B, in step 1844 IoT 1520 transmits data to IoTServices 1508. For example, if IoT 1520 is a Nest® camera IoT 1520starts streaming captured video to the Nest® storage address it receivedin step 1838 of IoT 1520. The data is received in UE1 at step 1846 andforwards the streaming data to step 1848 of IoT services 1508 forprocessing. In step 1850 of UE1 1120, the Gateway DM of UE1 1120 updatesthe KCN registry with the TO IoT services entry in activities 1570 ofthe predictive profile 1568. That update sent by step 1850 of UE1 1120is received in step 1852 of DU1 1110. In step 1852 of DU1 1110, DU1 1110validates and stores the Blockchain transaction and updates KCN registrystored in DU1 110 accordingly.

In step 1854 of UE1 1120, after a preset system preference of time haspassed, the Gateway DM of UE1 1120 is ready to LOCK down the KCNregistry for IoT 1520. As discussed above, the root KCN registry 1552 ismaintained in UE1 1120 and a replicated registry is stored in DU1 1110.In step 1854, the Gateway DM of UE1 1120 sends a message to step 1856 ofadministrative device 1522 to alert the user about the expiration of theKCN table initialization period and ask for confirmation to LOCK downthe KCN registry entries. In step 1856, the user has the option to lockdown the KCN entries or to keep the entries open. If the user authorizesthe lockdown in step 1856, then administrative device 1522 notifies step1854 of UE1 1120 that the user authorized the LOCK down of the KCNregistry. In step 1860, the Gateway DM of UE1 1120 updates the KCNregistry to LOCK down status by sending a message to step 1862 of DU11110. In step 1862, DU1 1110 validates and stores the transaction andupdates the KCN registry stored in DU1 1110 to LOCK down status. Furthercommunications between IoT 1520 and IoT services 1508 follow theBlockchain process and is cleared by DU1 1110 through its replicatedregistry. KCN register 1552 maintained in UE1 1120 may include a recordof communications with IoT 1520, however communications with furtherdevices or services from IoT 1520 requires a further request to reopenthe KCN registry process to establish new allowed devices that cancommunicate with IoT 1520.

As has been stated before, with DU1 1110 maintains a replicated KCNregistry while UE1 1120 maintains a root KCN registry 1552 asillustrated in FIG. 15B. These registries may be periodically purged ofold data and, in some cases where IoT devices have not communicated in asufficiently long time, with purging of entries for those inactive IoTdevices. An IoT device may be reactivated by restarting process 1800 asillustrated in FIGS. 18A and 18B.

An individual UE gateway can be included in more than one Blockchainsecured subnet. FIG. 19 illustrates an example where UE1 1120, as anexample, participates in multiple block chains. As an example, FIG. 19illustrates an example with two separate and independent Blockchainframeworks, one for subnet 1902 and one for subnet 1904. Subnet 1902 isthe data communications network, which as illustrated in FIG. 11includes CU1 1106, DU1 1110, RU1 1114, and UE1 1120. Subnet 1904includes energy subnet that includes the electric power subnet, whichmay include UE1 1120, EN1 1312 and an energy producer network edgedevice EP 1918. In some examples, subnet DU1 1110 may be coupled to EN11312 or EN1 1312 may be coupled through a RU. The example in FIG. 15Aillustrates EN1 1312 being coupled through RU1 1114 as an example.

As is illustrated in FIG. 19, DU1 1110 is coupled through CU1 1106 (notillustrated in FIG. 19) to cloud services 1104 that includes internetservices 1724. Further, EN1 1312, which may operate as a DU, is coupledthrough EP 1918, which may operate as a CU, to cloud services 1104 thatincludes Transactive Energy network 1926 and Energy Producer 1928. Asdiscussed above with respect to FIG. 13B, the subnet proposed by EN11312 or EN2 1314 when energy services are first requested includes, inthis example, EN1 1312, EP 1918, and potentially an RU such as, forexample, RU1 1114 in order to communicate with UE1 1120.

As is illustrated in FIG. 19, security is provided by Blockchain asdiscussed above in each of subnet 1902 and 1904, both of which terminateat UE1 1120 as an example. As is illustrated, the Blockchain frameworkaccording to some embodiments as illustrated in FIG. 19 supportsmultiple Blockchains that are separate and independent from each other.The Blockchain framework for each subnet can be managed separately toensure data privacy for each of the subnets 1902 and 1904.

As is illustrated in FIG. 19, the Gateway DM of UE1 1120 supports twoseparate Blockchains: Blockchain 1920 operating in subnet 1902 andBlockchain 1922 operating in subnet 1904. Blockchain 1920 and Blockchain1922 protect two separate secure contract ledger registries. Asdiscussed above with respect to FIG. 15A, all devices requiringcommunications service is coupled through the Gateway DM of UE1 1120.Further, as was discussed above with respect to FIGS. 13A and 13B, allenergy demand endpoints such as smart meters, smart EV charges, andsmart appliances are connected through and protected by the Gateway DMof UE1 1120 through an energy network illustrated as subnet 1904.

As is illustrated in FIGS. 15B and 16A, for example, the KCN registrycan be rooted on UE1 1120 for both subnet 1902 and subnet 1904. As such,KCN registry 1552 of UE1 1120 includes secure store 1906 with deviceidentities and communications contract registry 1908 for subnet 1902 andenergy contract registry 1912 for subnet 1904. DU1 1110 includes eitheran abstracted or replicated registry as is illustrated in FIG. 16A. Ineither case, the KCN registry on DU 1110 secure store 1930 includes theKCN identification for communications devices included in secure store1906. Communications contract registry 1910 includes either a replicatedor abstracted version of communications contract registry 1908.Similarly, EN1 1312 includes a replicated or abstracted registry 1914 ofenergy contract registry 1912. Further, energy producer network edgedevice EP 1918 includes a replicated or abstracted registry 1916 ofenergy contract registry 1912 to form blockchain 1922.

As discussed above, subnet 1902 and Blockchain 1920 establish andprotect a communications service network. As has been illustrated, forexample in FIG. 15A, subnet 1902 may include CU1 1106, DU1 1110, RU11114, and ending at UE1 1120. Consequently, UE1 1120, as discussed withrespect to FIGS. 15B and 16A, establishes a secure store 1906 thatincludes the Device Identity and KCN registry for each device, forexample IoT 1520 as discussed above. Blockchain 1920 established asecured link with DU1 1100, which also includes a secure store 1930 thatincludes the Device Identity and KCN registry as discussed above. As hasbeen discussed above, DU1 1110 is a replicated or abstracted node andmaintains the KCN registry with respect to the root KCN registry storedin secure store 1906 and communications contract registry 1908. Asdiscussed above UE1 1120 is a Blockchain “full node” while CU1 1106 is a“light node” since they communicate device IDs and KCN entries but donot maintain a complete registry.

Subnet 1904 and Blockchain 1922 establish and protect communicationswithin an energy services subnet. As has been discussed above andillustrated in FIG. 19, subnet 1904 includes UE1 1120, EN1 1312, and EP1918. As discussed above, EP 1918 may operate as a CU device that isitself coupled to cloud services 1104 and particularly to transactiveenergy network 1926 and energy production services 1928. As such, UE11120 includes an energy contract registry 1912, which includes thecontract identification and KCN registry for that network. EN1 1312further includes energy contract registry 1914 and EP 1918 includesenergy contract registry 1916. As illustrated in FIG. 17, EN1 1312 andEP 1918 can include a replicated or an abstracted node while UE1 1120 isa root node for Blockchain 1922.

As is illustrated in FIG. 19, Blockchain 1920 provides forBlockchain-secured contract registries rooted in DU1 1110, which may bepart of the BS Access Network 1100 as illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 15A.Blockchain 1920 maintains all three-way contracts between theCommunications Service Provider in cloud services 1104, the Gateway DMof UE1 1120 representing all devices requiring communications services,and the BS Access Network that includes DU1 1110. As in the case on theTransactive Energy, these three-way contracts may also be constructed astwo separate two-way contracts, one between the Communications ServiceProvider in cloud services 1104 and the BS Access Network 1100, theother between the BS Access Network 1100 and the Gateway DM of UE1 1120.The Gateway DM of UE1 1120 provides necessary communications networkprotocol and blockchain interface for all the communicating devicescoupled to it.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 19, Blockchain 1922 provides forBlockchain-secured contract registry rooted in Transactive EnergyNetwork 1926 of cloud services 1104, maintaining all three-way contractsbetween the Energy Producer, the Gateway DM of UE1 1120 representing allenergy demand endpoints, and the Transactive Energy Network 1926. Thesethree-way contracts may be constructed as two separate two-waycontracts, one between the Energy Producer 1928 and the TransactionEnergy Network 1100, the other between the Transactive Energy Network1100 and the Gateway DM of UE1 1120. The Gateway DM of UE1 1120 providesnecessary Transactive Energy network protocol and blockchain interfacefor all the energy demand endpoints.

Consequently, as described above embodiments of a method to allow userto register administration devices via blockchain technology toadminister user gateway UE devices securely without using user id,password pairs is disclosed. In accordance with some embodiments, anadministration device can be registered with the gateway DM of a UEgateway to validate and administer activities, which are then capturedirrefutably via Blockchain.

Further, some embodiments of a method to allow users to authorize andonboard devices to access the home gateway easily without cumbersomeuser id password pairs, and gradually learn more about the deviceidentity and communications profile of the device automatically, is alsodisclosed. The disclosed embodiments create irrefutable transactionledger on user authorization of devices to gain access to the homegateway and on communication endpoints to and from the authorizeddevice. Embodiments of the method identify unusual communicationspatterns. The method also included machine learning on data collected onsimilar devices and profiles to form a KCN registry that identifyvulnerable devices and untrustworthy communication endpoints. Thismethod enables a system which improves security over time automatically.The disclosed methods facilitate simplification of device onboarding andsecurity without using burdensome user ids and passwords.

Some embodiments of network devices according to the present disclosureexhibit a Distributed Virtual Device Module (DVDM) architecture, whichenables a collection of independent self-contained device modulespotentially geographically distributed and interacting to performfunctions as described in this disclosure. Individual DMs can bespecifically manufactured to easily interact with network elementsaccording to embodiments of this disclosure or may be manufactured bydifferent vendors. Some embodiments may include native gateway DMscooperating with unaffiliated devices to interface to those unaffiliateddevices and protect the protected devices. For example, a coherentvirtual device such as a Home Gateway that supports a native gatewayWiFi DM and an unaffiliated Smart Home Hub DM to interface and protect aSmart Meter and a Smart Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger. All DM's aresecured by the Secure Blockchain Framework as discussed above and allaccess activities to each DM are validated and stored via the SecureBlockchain framework with the associated KCN table as described above.

FIG. 20A illustrates a high-level DVDM architecture framework 2000, andin particular a high-level DVDM architecture framework 2000 for agateway 1030 such as that described above, for example, with FIG. 10Dand gateway 880 of FIG. 8D. As discussed below, the high-level DVDMarchitecture framework 2000 provides a flexible architecture to assemblevarious DM's to form a Distributed Virtual Gateway. There are threedifferent types of DM's illustrated in DVDM gateway framework 2000,namely native gateway DMs 2020, unaffiliated gateway DMs 2022, andVirtual Super DMs 2026. These components can be distributedgeographically, but together form the logical gateway device 1030.

Native Gateway DMs 2020 refer to DMs that are designed and manufacturesto operate within embodiments of the present disclosure. These DMs arehighly interoperative and therefore can be tightly coupled and managedas a set. In the example illustrated in FIG. 20A, Native Gateway DMs2020 includes a radio DM 900, a storage DM 1034, a router DM 1036, and aWiFi DM 1032. These DMs have been previously discussed with respect toFIG. 10D.

Native Gateway DMs 2020 are often physically located together and areinterconnected on physical busses, for example a PCIe bus, locatedphysically in the center of a packaged device, however they may also bephysically separated. Native Gateway DMs 2020 are held together througha common data mode, which can in some embodiments be a combination ofthe standard OCF data mode and the Native DM data model. Such a datamodel has been discussed above with respect to FIG. 16C. The nativegateway DMs 2020 include a router DM 1036, on which core functionalityof gateway device 1030 is operated. Router DM 1036 may operate on anycomputing platform and, as illustrated, may operator Router DM apps suchas a Transactive Energy (TE) app, a SFWA UE Client app, and security andDM management apps. The Security and DM management apps may include DMmanagement, Subnet management, OCF bridge, OCF security with KCN and IDmanagement, Blockchain transaction management, and Mesh networkbandwidth management. Each of these functionalities have been discussedabove.

Native Gateway DMs 2020 communicate, using data packets, using a NativeDM data model standard, which is a combination of a standard data modelsuch as the OCF data model plus additionally data element definitions asdiscussed here. The Native DM model allows for tight communications andcontrols between Native Gateway DMs 2020.

In some embodiments, some of the Native Gateway DMs 2020 are notco-located with Router DM 1036. As has been discussed above, DMs may beco-located in a single package or may be separated and interfaced withone another. For example, Radio DM 900 can be remotely deployed andconfigured for upstream communication with the network or downstreamcommunications to other gateway devices. As discussed above, all NativeDMs conform to a Native DM Data Model, which as discussed above maycombine a standard data module such as an OCF Data Model with other dataelements and functionality such as KCN Registry control. Other standarddata models may be used.

Unaffiliated Gateway DMs 2022 typically support at least one standarddata model such as the OCF data mode that the Native Gateway DMssupport. However, in some examples, Native Gateway DMs can be providedto interface with Unaffiliated Gateway DMs 2022, even if a standard datamodel is not supported. In general, unaffiliated gateway DMs communicatewith other Native Gateway DMs through the common standard data model toform a Distributed Virtual Gateway DM 2000.

Protected Devices 2024 are controlled and managed by Native Gateway DMs2020 and Unaffiliated Gateway DMs 2022, depending on the device. As isillustrated, Protected devices can include IoT devices 2014, smartmeters 2016, or any other connected device 2018.

Virtual Super DMs 2026 are DM modules that act as DM proxies to whichunaffiliated gateway DMs 2022 can be bound. Virtual Super DMs bringfunctionality of the Distributed Virtual Gateway Native DMs 2020described above to unaffiliated gateway devices through standard datamodels, for example, the OCF Data Model. FIG. 20A illustrates a SuperSmart Meter DM 2010 and a Super Smart EV Charger DM 2012. For example,Super Smart Meter DM 2010 can interface with and add features tounaffiliated gateway Smart Meter DM 2006 while Super Smart EV Charger DM2012 can interface with and add features to Unaffiliated Device DM 2008.Virtual Super DM 2026 can also be used to add features to protecteddevices 2024. However, since the protected devices 2026 may or may notconform to any standard data model that the Distributed Virtual GatewayDM 2000 supports, the scope of new features can be added may be limited.

In some embodiments, any of the Unaffiliated Gateway DMs 2022 that donot adhere to the standard Data Model protocols used in the Native DataModels of Native Gateway DMs 2020 may be interfaced into gateway 1030with a super virtual DM 2026. A super virtual DM 2026 can also interfacewith a virtual DM 2026 that operate according to a standard Data Modelto interface and add features to those unaffiliated devices. Gateway1030, through Native Gateway DMs 2020, manages and controls unaffiliateddevices as if they are Native DM's as much as possible. In the exampleillustrated in FIG. 20A, a WiFi DM 2002, an IoT Home Hub DM 2004, aSmart Meter DM 2006, and a Smart EV Charger DM 2008 is illustrated.These DMs may or may not adhere to the Native DM Data Model and mayutilize super virtual DMs 2026 to operate according to the capabilitiesof Distributed Virtual Gateway DM 1030.

FIG. 20B illustrates an example of a virtual Super DM, in this case aVirtual Super Smart Meter DM that was illustrated in FIG. 20A as VirtualSuper Smart Meter DM 2010. As is further illustrated in FIG. 20B, thefunctionality of Virtual Super Smart Meter DM 2010 is implemented asSuper Smart Meter 2030 in router 1036 and energy management DMs 2032 and2034. These DMs supplement the operation of Unaffiliated Smart Meter2006. As an example, management block 2032 may be provide servicesaccording to the Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) standardaccording to the OpenADR Alliance. Energy Management DM 2034 may providesecured PPA contracts as discussed above with FIGS. 13A and 13B.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 20B, smart meter DM 2006 supportsbasic meter data collection 2038 and provides a WiFi interface 2036. Asillustrated, smart meter DM 2006 in this example conforms to thestandard Data Model, for example the standard OCF data model. As isillustrated, Super Smart Meter 2030 of Virtual Super Smart Meter 2010connects to Smart Meter 2006 using Native WiFi DM 1032, WiFifunctionality 2036, and the standard Data Model. Through this connectiona Supper Smart Meter DM is created combining the features supported bythe Virtual Super Smart Meter DM 2010 with the Smart Meter 2006. As isillustrated in FIG. 20B, Super Smart Meter 2030 of Virtual Super SmartMeter DM 2010 provides for data connection, data processing for datareceived from Smart Meter 2006, and Energy Management.

As has been discussed above, an OCF Security with KCN registryinfrastructure conforming to the native data model can be providedthrough the Virtual Super Smart Meter 2010 protecting the Smart Meter2006. The meter data collected by Smart Meter 2006 is processed by theMeter Data Processing function in router 1036 in conjunction with theEnergy Management DM 2034. If appropriate, some data collected may beprocessed and consumed locally while some data collected may be sentupstream for further processing. For example, active energy used,voltage, current flow, and the temperature of smart meter 2006 may becollected periodically (e.g. every 15 seconds). If, based on the MeterData Processing function logic, the values of all these data elementsare as expected and the same as the data values that had been forwardedthrough the uplink previously, the data may be consumed locally, andnothing is forwarded upstream. However, if data is out of the normal(e.g. the temperature of Smart Meter 2006) that is recorded is out ofthe specification (e.g., the temperature exceed a threshold setting),the data collected may be forwarded through the network (e.g., network1100) to cloud services together with other diagnostic data generated byVirtual Smart Meter DM 2010 for further processing. As illustrated, datafrom Smart Meter 2006 after processing by Super Smart Meter 2030 may bestored by Storage DM 1034.

As has been discussed above, DMs do not need to be in the same physicalhousing and can be assembled logically. As an example, a logical GatewayDevice can be formed by connecting all the smart meters DMs controlledby an Independent Power Producer to a CU DM. As such, data over a widearea of user sites can be monitored and process by the power producer.

As has been discussed above, all DM's are detected, authorized, andassembled into part of the Distributed Virtual Gateway DM dynamically.All non-Gateway DM devices connected and classified as protecteddevices. These devices may or may not conform to the DM Data Model (e.g.the OCF Data Model). FIG. 20C illustrates how unaffiliated gatewaydevices 2022 can be integrated as part of a DVDM Gateway 1030 togetherwith Native gateway DM 2020 and the different rolls they play in theDVDM architecture 2000 from the specific perspectives of selected DMs.

From the perspective of WiFI DM 1032, which is a native gateway DM 2020and therefore is fully accessible by gateway DM 1030 using the nativedata model, the rest of the Gateway has full and special access to WiFiDM 1032. Access to WiFi DM 1032 is performed with the native data modelaccording to some embodiments. Specifically, the Wireless Managementmodule of Router 1036 is capable of performing specific controls of WiFiDM 1032. These controls can include asking WiFi DM 1032 to scan andreport the WiFi channel occupancy conditions, for example. Router DM1036 may also request WiFi DM 1032 to ping a connected device from aspecific radio band and channel to determine the local latencyperformance Router 1036 may also request WiFi DM 1032 to collect otherlink performance data useful for the operation of gateway 1030, which isnot commonly available from unaffiliated devices. In particular, thecapabilities of the native WiFi DM 1032 in combination of the managementcontrol from router DM 1036 may not be defined in any of the standarddata models, and therefore is unavailable, from unaffiliated WiFi DM2002.

In essence, while Native WiFi DM 1032 and unaffiliated WiFi DM 2002 areconnected to the Gateway as WiFi DM's and connected devices can beonboarded via either one of them, WiFi DM 1032, a native DM, is muchmore tightly coupled with router DM 1036 of Gateway 1030 than is WiFi DM2002. From the perspective of unaffiliated Smart Meter DM 2016, it mayoperate as an unaffiliated Gateway Smart Meter if it conforms to thestandard Data Model. Smart Meter 2016 may be controlled by Gateway 1030via the standard data model (e.g. the OCF data model) that gateway 1030supports to perform various operations. These operations can, forexample, be turning smart meter DM 2016 on and off at specific times,providing a Transactive Energy Network interface between it and aTransactive Energy Network with irrefutable transaction ledgers asdescribed above, and other operations. However, if Smart Meter DM 2016does not support the standard data mode (e.g., the OCF data model) thatgateway 1030 supports, it may connect to gateway 1030 via either ofNative WiFi DM 1032 or Unaffiliated WiFi DM 2002, then Gateway 1030 canonly protect Smart Meter DM 2016 as a generically connected IoT device,and not an integrated Gateway Smart Meter DM. Therefore, from DVDMArchitecture perspective, Smart Meter DM 2016 would not be part of theDVDM Gateway but one of the connected devices protected by the DVDMGateway.

FIGS. 21A and 21B illustrate deployment of a DVDM architecture of a homegateway 1030 according to some embodiments. FIG. 21A illustrates aphysical layout of gateway devices at a user home residence. FIG. 21Billustrates the logical arrangement of home gateway 1030 according tosome embodiments. FIGS. 21A and 21B illustrate how a single Home Gatewaycan be constructed with Native radio DMs and other native andunaffiliated gateway DMs deployed in a Home 2100 and managed as acoherent Home Gateway 1030.

As is illustrated in FIG. 21A, router DM 1036 and radio DM 900 arelocated within the residence 2100. In some embodiments, radio DM 900 maybe mounted to the roof of residence 2100. As is further illustrated, asmart EV charger 2108 is mounted on residence 2100 proximate to anelectric car 2102. As is further illustrated, a home hub 2104 is locatedon the second story of residence 2100 while WiFi DM 1032 is located alsoon the second story of residence 2100. As is illustrated, gateway DMsare distributed throughout residence 2100 using the DVDM architecture asdescribed above with respect to FIGS. 20A, 20B, and 20C to form apowerful, multi-function system useable as a coherent Home Gateway. Ashas been discussed above, these DMs may be native gateway DMs,unaffiliated gateway DMs, or devices connected and protected by the DVDMgateway. The logical arrangement of these DMs according to the DVDMarchitecture is illustrated in FIG. 21B.

FIGS. 21C and 21D illustrate deployment of a DVDM architecture in amulti-dwelling unit 2110. FIG. 21C illustrates a physical layout ofgateway devices at multi-dwelling unit 2110. FIG. 21D illustrates thelogical arrangement of gateway DMs to form a gateway 1030 inmulti-dwelling unit 2110 according to some embodiments. FIGS. 21C and21D illustrate how a multi-dwelling unit gateway 1030 can be constructedwith multiple native gateway radio DMs and other native and unaffiliatedgateway DMs deployed in a building serving multiple apartments of amulti-dwelling unit 2110 and managed as a coherent Multi-DwellingGateway 1030.

As illustrated in FIG. 21C, the example multi-dwelling unit 2110includes a multi-level structure with an Apartment A 2112 on the thirdfloor, Apartment B 2114 on the second floor, Apartment C 2116 on thefirst floor, and a basement level 2118. As is illustrated, Router DM1036 and Storage DM 1034 may be integrated and housed at basement level2118. Apartment C 2116 may include a smart meter 2126. Apartment B 1914may include a smart meter 1924 and a IoT Home Hub 1922. Apartment A 1912may include a WiFi DM 2120. Radio DM 900 may be mounted on the roof.Cabling 2128 may be provided throughout the multi-dwelling unit 2110 tofacilitate networking with router DM 1036. As is illustrate in FIG. 21Da single logical multi-dwelling unit gateway 1030 is constructed withNative and unaffiliated DMS deployed through multi-dwelling unit 2110and servicing multiple apartments. It should be noted that, in someembodiments, a multi-dwelling unit may be serviced by more than onemulti-dwelling unit gateway deployed throughout the structure. As hasbeen discussed above, these DMs may be native gateway DMs, unaffiliatedgateway DMs, or just devices connected and protected by the DVDMgateway. The Logical arrangement of these DMs according to the DVDMarchitecture is illustrated in FIG. 21D.

FIGS. 21E and 21F illustrates deployment of a DVDM architecture in anenterprise setting. FIG. 21E illustrates a physical layout of gatewaydevices in a company to form an enterprise 2130 setting. FIG. 21Fillustrates the logical arrangement of Enterprise Gateway 1030 inenterprise 2130 according to some embodiments. FIGS. 21E and 21Fillustrate how a single Enterprise Gateway 1030 can be constructed withmultiple Native radio DMs and other native and unaffiliated DMs deployedin a building serving multiple departments of an enterprise 2130 andmanaged as a coherent Enterprise Gateway 1030.

As illustrated in FIG. 21E, enterprise 2130 includes a multi-levelstructure that houses department A 2132, Department B 2134, andDepartment C 2136. Enterprise 2130 may also include a server room 2158that houses components of gateway 1030. As is illustrated, a radio DM2140 and radio DM 2138 can be mounted on the roof. Radio DMs 2140 and2138, for example, may be radio device 900 as illustrated in FIG. 9.Server room 2158 may house storage DM 2144, storage DM 2142, and router1036. Storage 2144 may, for example, provide dedicated storage to, forexample, Department A 2132 of enterprise 2130. A WiFi DM 2156 may behoused in Department C 2136 along with a smart meter 2154. Department B2134 may house a IoT Hub 2148 and a WiFi DM 2152. As has been discussedabove, these DMs may be native gateway DMs, unaffiliated gateway DMs, orjust devices connected and protected by the DVDM gateway. The logicalarrangement of these DMs according to the DVDM architecture isillustrated in FIG. 21F.

FIG. 22A illustrates a Mesh Radio Unit (MRU) 2200 according to a DVDMarchitecture according to some embodiments. MRU 2200 can be an exampleof RU 840 illustrated in FIG. 8C. As illustrated in FIG. 22A, MRU 2200includes upstream radio DMs 2202 as well as downstream radio DMs 2206.Radio DMs 2202 and 2206 may be radio devices 900 as illustrated in FIG.9. MRU 2200 further includes router DM 2204, which includes applicationsfor MRU services as well as security and DM management functionality.MRU 2200 provides control for fixed wireless access DMs 2208 or furtherMRU DMs 2210 that are linked to MRU 2200. FIG. 22A illustrates how anMRU can be constructed using the DVDM architecture according to someembodiments. In particular, multiple Native Radio DMs 2202 can beconnected to the upstream side of Router DM 2204 to communicate with thenetwork upstream and connecting multiple Native Radio DMs 2206 to thedownstream side of Router DM 2204 to communicate with the fixed-wirelessaccess (FWA) UE DMs 2208 such as the gateways discussed above. MRU 2200may also communicate with other MRU DMs 2210.

As is illustrated, MRU 2200 can operate as an RU unit in a network suchas network 1100 described above with respect to FIGS. 11 and 15A.Further, the flexible DVDM architecture to form MRU 2200 can alsofacilitate a mix of different radios, using point-to-multipoint radiofor near-by endpoints and use point-to-point radios to connect todistant end points. It can also employ low-power narrow band radio toconnect with simple IoT devices all controlled through the Router DM2204. Router DM 2204 may be any platform capable of performing thefunctions, for example the platform illustrated in FIG. 8C. Further,with regard to FWA UE DMs 2208, these functions may be performed by aFast Radio DM.

FIG. 22B illustrates a DVDM architecture that can be used to construct aMesh Distributed Unit (MDU) 2220 according to some embodiments. MDU 2220can be an example of DU 820 has been discussed above with respect toFIG. 8B and DU 1002 illustrated in FIG. 10A. As is illustrated in FIG.22B, MDU 2220 includes upstream radio DMs 2222 and downstream radio DMs2226. As discussed above, these may each be radio device 900 asillustrated in FIG. 9. Each of upstream DM 2222 and downstream DM 2224are connected to upstream and downstream networks by router DM 2224.Router DM 2224 may provide both MDU services as well as MRU services.MDU 2220 may be constructed where radio DMS 2222 and 2226 are NativeRadio DMs. Further, router 2224 of MDU 2020 can be performed on anyplatform, as is described with DU 820 illustrated in FIG. 8B.

As is further illustrated in FIG. 22B, MDU 2220 can provide control andcommunications with MRU DMs 2228, MDU DMs 2230, and FWA UE DMs 2232.Consequently, MDU 2220 performs the functions described above foroperation as a DU within a network such as Network 1100 as describedwith respect to FIGS. 11 and 15A.

FIG. 22C illustrates a DVDM architecture that can be used to construct aMesh Centralized Unit (MCU) 2240 according to some embodiments. MCU 2240can be an example of CU 800 illustrated in FIG. 8A and CU unit 1010 asillustrated in FIG. 10B. As is illustrated in FIG. 22C, MCU 2240includes router DM 2242 and downstream radio DM 2244. Router DM 2242provides MCU services, MDU services, and MRU services in order tooperate with a network such as network 1100 described above with FIGS.11 and 15A and to perform the functions of a CU as described above. Asis illustrated, Router DM 2242 is coupled to an Ethernet DM 2246 forupstream communications and native radio DMs 2044 for downstreamcommunications. Ethernet DM 2246 may be a native DM, but is likely to bean unaffiliated DM. As is illustrated, MCU 2240 is connected downstreamto any combination of MDU DMs 2254, MRU DMs 2252, FWA UE DMs 2250, andother MCU DMs 2248. Connection with other MCU DMs 2248 may be useful toprovide connection in the event that the wired ethernet link provided byEthernet DM 2246 fails. In that case, MCU 2248 can continue to provideservice through MCU DMs 2248.

As is illustrated above, MRU 2200, MDU 2220, and MCU 2240 are DVDMnetwork devices as described previously. As such, MRU 2200, MDU 2220,and MCU 2240 can operate within networks such as network 1100 asillustrated in FIGS. 11 and 15A. Further, MRU 2200, MDU 2220, and MCU2240 can perform the networked functions to provide transactive internetservices to downstream gateways as in FIGS. 12A through 12C ortransactive energy services as described with FIGS. 13A and 13B, andBlockchain secured services as described with FIGS. 15A, 15B, 15C, 16A,16B, 16C, 18A, and 18B. Further, MRU 2200, MDU 2220, and MCU 2240 canoperate to provide services to DVDM based gateways as illustrated inFIGS. 20A through 20C and 21A through 21F as described above.

FIGS. 23A and 23B illustrate further how the DVDM architecture can beused to optimize the deployment and Gateway features flexibly to form anetwork 2354 that can provide energy and communications services todevices connected to multiple gateways. FIG. 23A illustrates a spatiallayout of network devices and FIG. 23B illustrates a network accordingto some embodiments that employ those network devices. In the exampleillustrated in FIGS. 23A, five gateways (gateway 1 2302, gateway 2 2304,Gateway 3 2306, Gateway 4 2308, and Gateway 5 2310) are deployed betweena high-rise building 2350 and a single-family home 2352. In particular,Gateway 1 2302, Gateway 2 2304, Gateway 3 23106, and Gateway 4 2308 aredistributed throughout high-rise building 2350 while Gateway 5 2310 isinstalled at single-family home 2352. Although any distribution ofdevices can be attached to these gateways, in the illustrationillustrated in FIG. 23A an EV charger 2320 is connected to Gateway 12302, a smart meter 2326 is connected to Gateway 2 2304, a smart meter2328 is connected to Gateway 3 2306, a smart meter 2330 and an EVcharger 2322 are connected to Gateway 4 2308, and a smart meter 23132and EV charger 2324 is connected to Gateway 5 2310. Further, radio DMs2312, 2314, 2316, and 2318 are connected to gateways 2302, 2314, 2316,and 2330, respectively.

Although all of Gateways 2302, 2304, 23106, 2308, and 2310 may share asingle owner, each may also be owned separately. They are interlinked toform a network as described below, which as discussed above mayimplement the Blockchain security and linking processes describedpreviously.

As is illustrated in FIG. 23B, the example network 2354 includes an MCU2342 coupled to an MDU 2340, which is networked with Gateways 2302,2314, 2306, 2308, and 2310. As is further illustrated, Network 2354includes cloud internet services 1104 and transactive energy networkservices 1320 coupled to network 2354.

To optimize the connection to the Transactive Energy Network 1320 andsimplify the management of all these Energy demand endpoints, Gateway 42308 can be configured as a Distributed Virtual Gateway providing aninterface to the Transactive Energy Network on behalf of all the otherGateways 23102, 2304, 2306, and 2310. To do so, Gateways 23102, 2304,2306, and 2310 request Gateway 4 2308 as a Transactive Energy proxy fortheir Energy demand endpoints. Gateway 4 2308 can then operate asdiscussed with FIGS. 13A and 13B to arrange a PPA contract for energyservices. Once Gateway 4 2308 authorizes the connections, all the Energyendpoints are connected to Gateway 4 2308 with MDU 1 2340, protected bythe Blockchain rooted in gateway 4 2308 as was discussed above withrespect to FIGS. 18A and 18B. All energy demand endpoints behind Gateway1 2302, Gateway 2 2304, Gateway 3 2304, and Gateway 5 2310 are thereforeconnected to the Transactive Energy network through Gateway 4 2308through MDU 1 2342. All of the endpoints can be controlled and managedvia Gateway 4 2354. In some embodiments, Network 2354 can be connectedlocally. FIGS. 23A and 23B, therefore, illustrates the flexibility ofthe DVDM architecture to create virtual gateway to optimize systemconnectivity and simplifies operation and management.

As discussed above, the DVDM architecture allows for construction ofpowerful secure access gateway products from self-contained virtualdevice modules rapidly. These virtual device modules can be integratedon a common platform, locally attached to a core device, or virtuallydistributed remotely over a wide area network. However, all these DM'scan be locally managed and controlled as part of a coherent networkdevices. These DMs can be native DMs or unaffiliated DMs as describedabove. Such a construction also allows for construction of powerful DMsby connecting less sophisticated devices, such as low power connectedIoT devices, to Virtual Super DMs as discussed above to create a highlyfunctional resulting DM.

One of the biggest challenges wireless service network operators,including Fixed Wireless Access and Mobile Cellular Network operators,is building the radio base station network infrastructure. Buildingthese radio base station infrastructures is extremely time consuming andexpensive. The complexity of locating and securing radio sites isdaunting. Further, as has been discussed previously, the creation ofradio base stations in a rural area or in underdeveloped areas may beprohibitively expensive for deploying a conventional network. However,embodiments of the present disclosure allow for deployment of technologydynamically without the additional expense of building the radio basestation network. In particular, the component elements of thedistributed radio base station system, namely the RU, DU, and CU can bedistributed and integrated into gateways, creating a virtual radio BSnetwork overlay. These systems allow networks to be dynamicallyassembled and expanded without significant investment in radio BSinfrastructure.

FIG. 24A illustrates a network 2400, which is an example illustratingconstruction and deployment of a network using virtual radio basestations. As is illustrated in FIG. 24A, network 2400 includes abackhaul network 2402 (i.e. the connection between a CU networkcomponent and the cloud-based services) and a fronthaul subnet 2404. Asis illustrated, backhaul network 2402 can include fiber and fixedwireless communications to internet services 1104 and transactionalenergy services 1302. The fronthaul subnet 2402 of network 2400 caninclude a collection of mesh-networked integrated BS UE gateway devices,GW1 2408, GW2 2410, GW3 2412, GW4 2416, and GW5 2406. These gateways aredeployed throughout an area in any functional fashion. As is discussed,for example, with GW 1030 illustrated in FIG. 10D, each of GW1 2408, GW22410, GW3 2412, GW4 2414, and GW 5 2406 includes a combination ofnetwork elements (CU, RU, DU). As such, user-based subnets 2404 withspecific service performance characteristic is assembled using selectedRU, DU, and CU components in the integrated BS UE gateways to serve eachuser, as described above. As illustrated in FIG. 24A, GW 5 2406 isconnected through backhaul network 2402 to internet services 1104 and TEservices 1302. In the example illustrated in FIG. 24A, GW 5 2406 isconnected on the fronthaul subnet to GW 1 2408. GW 1 2408 is connectedto GW 2 2410 and GW 3 2412. Both of GW 2 2410 and GW 3 2412 areconnected with GW 4 2416.

In the specific example as illustrated in FIG. 24A, GW 1 2408 and GW 32412 integrate an RU, a DU, and a GW. GW 2 2410 and GW 4 2416 eachintegrate an RU with a UE GW. GW 5 2406 integrates an RU, a DU, a CU,and a UE GW. With this specification, there are potentially six virtualradio Base Stations that can be assembled. A virtual Base Station isconstructed with a CU, a DU, and a RU function. Formation of virtualbase stations in the example illustrated in FIG. 24A can be defined asin Table V below.

TABLE V Virtual Base Station of FIG. 22 CU Functionality DUFunctionality RU Functionality GW5 2406 GW5 2406 GW5 2406 GW5 2406 GW12408 GW1 2408 GW5 2406 GW3 2412 GW3 2412 GW5 2406 GW1 2408 GW2 2410 GW52406 GW1 2408 GW4 2414 GW5 2406 GW3 2412 GW4 2414Note that, the Integrated BS UE Gateways can be hosted in differenthardware platforms. GW 5 2406, for example, can be hosted in ageneral-purpose computer server whereas all other GWs are hosted inhardware, which may have special form factors, as described above.

Enabled by the DVDM architecture, various combinations of RU, DU, and CUDevice Modules can easily be assembled and managed as part of anyIntegrated BS UE Gateway according to some embodiments. A Gateway can bebuilt without any Base Station components. However, as is illustrated inFIG. 24A, the physical base station network may be completelyeliminated, and the mesh network formed with GW devices that areintegrated with network functionality (CU, DU, RU).

FIG. 24B illustrates a depiction of an integrated virtual BS UE gateway2420 as has been described above, for example, with respect to FIG. 8D,FIG. 10B, FIG. 10D, FIGS. 20A-20C, and other discussion above. Asillustrated in FIG. 24B, gateway 2420 includes communications module2422 with an upstream communications block 2424 and a downstreamcommunications block 2434. As has been discussed above, upstreamcommunications block 2424 includes a radio transceiver 2426 withhigh-gain advanced antenna systems with multiple-user multiple-inputmultiple-output (MU-MIMO) beamforming, for example. Upstreamcommunications block may further include a WiFi block 2428 and a fiberinterface block (10G-passive optical network (PON) 2436. Downstreamcommunications block 2434 may include a radio transceiver 2430, whichmay be the same as radio transceiver 2426, and a WiFi block 2432, whichmay be the same as WiFi block 2428. Communications module 2422

Integrated BS UE gateway 2420 further includes a gateway applicationsblock 2438. Gateway applications block 2438 includes application DMsthat are operating on the gateway, including a UE client block 2440,in-home WiFi hotspot DMs 2442, and TE NW interfaces 2444. Further,applications 2438 also includes a DU applications server 2446, CUapplications server 2448, SFWA management 2450, and super virtual devicemodules 2452. Further applications are illustrated in block 2454, whichincludes dynamic virtual DMs 2456, Blockchain security 2458, Meshrouters 2460, and Dynamic Bandwidth 2462. These applications aresoftware driven and can be loaded and activated independently whenneeded.

The general integrated virtual BS UE gateway 2420 can operate inmultiple functionalities in a network such as that illustrated, forexample, in FIGS. 23A, 23B, and 24A. As explained above, gateway 2420has all of the components of a virtual base station and also caninteract with user devices coupled with gateway 2420.

FIG. 24C illustrates data transmission through a network 2472 accordingto some embodiments using integrated virtual BS UE gateway 2420 devicesas illustrated in FIG. 24B. As is illustrated, network 2472 illustratesa gateway 2464 operating as a UE gateway, a gateway 2466 operating as aUE gateway, a gateway 2468 operating as a BS gateway with RU and DUfunctions to UE to UE gateway 2464 gateway 2470 that is operating eitheras a BS gateway with CU function to BS gateway 2468 or as a BS gatewaywith DU and CU functions to UE gateway 2466. Consequently, gateway 2464,gateway 2458, and gateway 2470 form a subnet 2474 while gateway 2466 and2470 form another subnet 2476. In each of subnet 2474 and 2476, avirtual base station is formed. In subnet 2474, gateway 2468 provides RUand DU functionality, and gateway 2470 provides CU capability. In subnet2476, gateway 2470 provides all RU, DU, and CU BS functionality.Consequently, the base station of subnet 2474 is formed by CUapplication 2448 in gateway 2470, RU function of radio block 2430 andradio block 2426 of RU 2434 in gateway 2468, DU application 2446 ofgateway 2468. The base station of subnet 2476 is formed by CUapplication 2448 of gateway 2470, DU application 2446 of gatewayapplication 2470, and the RU 2434 with radio block 2430 of gatewayapplication 2470.

In the example of subnet 2474 illustrated in FIG. 24C, the data pathbetween a device 2476 to cloud services in internet 1104 is presented.The data path through each of gateway 2464, 2468, and 2470 is depictedwith solid lines. Device 2476 is protected by blockchain security 2458in gateway 2464, which may include a root KCN registry. The DUapplication 2446 in gateway 2468 is protected by the KCN registry inblockchain security 2458 in gateway 2468. The CU application 2448 ingateway 2470 is protected in the KCN registry in Blockchain security2458 in gateway 2470. Consequently, data from device 2476 is processedthrough WiFi DM 2440 of gateway 2464, through Blockchain security 2458of gateway 2464, and transmitted by radio transceiver 2426 of gateway2464. The data is received by radio block 2430 of gateway 2468,processed through DU applications 2446 of gateway 2468, processedthrough Blockchain security 2458 of gateway 2468, and then transmittedby radio transceiver 2426 of gateway 2468. The data is then received byradio block 22430 of gateway 2470, processed through CU application 2448of gateway 2470, processed through Blockchain security 2458 of gateway2470, then transmitted to cloud internet services 1104 through fiberinterface block 2436 of gateway 2470. Data sent from cloud services 1104to device 2476 follows the reverse path. UE client block 2440 and DUapplication 2446 of gateway 2470 can be disabled to apply resources toCU block 2448.

In the example of subnet 2476 illustrated in FIG. 24C a data pathbetween UE client block 2440 and cloud internet services 1104 ispresented. The data path through gateway 2466 through gateway 2470 tocloud internet services 1104 is depicted by dotted lines. The deviceconnected through UE client 2440 is protected by Blockchain security2458 of gateway 2466. The DU application 2446 and CU block application2448 is protected by Blockchain 2458 of gateway 2470. In subnet 2476,the base station is formed by the RU, DU, and CU of gateway 2470. Asillustrated in FIG. 24C, in subnet 2476 starting from UE client 2440 ofgateway 2466, data is processed through Blockchain security 2458 ofgateway 2466 and then transmitted by radio block 2426 of gateway 2466.The data is received in radio block 2430 of gateway 2470, which is partof RU 2434. Data is then processed through DU application 2446 ofgateway 2470 and then CU application 2448 of gateway 2470. Data is thenprocessed through Blockchain security 2458 of gateway 2470 before beingsent by fiber interface 2436 of gateway 2470 to cloud internet 1104.

Consequently, as illustrated in FIGS. 24A and 24C, data is transmittedthroughout a network such as network 2472 of FIG. 24C with individualgateways performing the various functions of the virtual base station.Each gateway performs according to its assignment in the subnet that isprocessing the data and may provide different functionality depending onindividual subnet. For example, in FIG. 24C, gateway device 2468 mayform yet a third subnet with gateway 2470 to interact with devices beingserviced by gateway 2468.

FIG. 25 illustrates how Integrated Virtual BS Gateways can enable anetwork 2500 spanning several site functionalities. As illustrated inFIG. 25, a network 2504, which may be similar to network 1100 asillustrated above with respect to FIG. 11 or 15A or other network thatmay or may not include a radio based network. Network 2504 is coupled asis discussed above to internet services 1104, TE services network 1320,and potentially a FW transaction services network 2502.

An energy producer network device 2550, which may, for example, be an ENdevice as discussed above with respect to FIGS. 13A and 13B, can becoupled to network 2504 and can arrange power service contracts throughTE network 1320. As is illustrated in FIG. 25, energy producer networkdevice 2506 may be coupled with an Energy Producer power plant 2506 andElectrical Grid connected to supply power to various communities. Forexample, Energy producer power plant 2506 may be a solar powered plantsupplying power to a village 2508, a hotel resort 2510, and a village2512. In some embodiments, network device 2550 may interconnect powercomponents within the Energy Producer infrastructure, which connectspower plant 2506 with the Hotel Resort 2510 and the two nearby villages2508 and 2512, with a fixed wireless system.

As is illustrated in FIG. 25, each site can include an integrated GWdevice to facilitate a mesh network with no physical radio BS networkoutside of network 2504. As is illustrated, a GW 2514 at Village 2512,GW 2516 at Hotel Resort 2510, and GW 2518 at village 2508. GW 2514 isintegrated to at least provide CU functionality and is used to form anetwork such as that illustrated in FIGS. 24A and 24C, for example, withGW 2524 and GW 2520 to interface with devices 2526 and 2522. GW 2546includes integration with CU functionality to form a network with GW2530, GW 2528, and GW 2532 to drive devices 2534, 2538, 2536, and 2540.In the example illustrated, device 2540 is an EV charger that receivespower through the power network formed by energy producer 2506 to chargean EV car 2542. GW 2518 in village 2508 includes CU functionality tointerface with GW 2544 and 2546 in order to drive devices 2548 and 2546.In the example illustrated in FIG. 25, integrated BS UE Gatewaysillustrated in FIG. 25 can be equipped with Radio Devices 900 thatinclude a Solar Power DMs and batteries to power the gateways. Asdiscussed above, the RU, DU, and CU DM integrated into the mesh gatewayscan provide a virtual Radio Base Station network connecting all the UEDM's, with per-user subnets designed with specific performancecharacteristics to meet the needs of each user in the network.

The DMs of Gateways 2514, 2546, and 2518 can be coupled through network2504 to a FWA Transaction Service Network 2502, which can provideInternet Fixed Wireless Access services to all the users in the EnergyProducer network that includes energy producer 2506, the Hotel Resort2510, and the surrounding villages 2508 and 2512. They also provideconnection interface to the Transactive Energy network with irrefutabletransaction contract ledger support, as described above. In addition,they provide security protection in conjunction with the DU DM's, to allconnected devices connected through them, as has been described above.

As illustrated in FIG. 25, the Server-based Integrated Mesh Gateway 2550that connects the Energy Producer 2506 to the Transactive Energy (TE)Network 2520, which may be via the FWA Transaction Service Network 2302,can include a Local TE service DM. This Local TE Service DM providesservices such as energy production management and microgrid controlfunctions. The local TE services DM may be managed from the TE Networkusing a TE Network Service DM hosted in the TE Network Service Gatewayin the TE Network.

Typically, these user cases will start building the core system to coverthe Energy Producer network and the Hotel Resort. Once that is in place,incremental Gateways can be deployed to the nearby villages providingcrucial enabler for under-privileged villagers to connect to theInternet to maximize their chances to participate as productive globalcitizens and to escape structural poverty rapidly.

As illustrated above, embodiments according to this disclosure enablethe integration of selected distributed radio Base Station components,namely the RU, DU and CU, into a set of Integrated Virtual BS UEGateways, to reassemble selected components from selected IntegratedVirtual BS UE Gateway to form radio BS to construct per-user subnet toserve a user. With embodiments according to this disclosure, the needfor separate expensive radio Base Station access network infrastructureis eliminated. Further, with the implementation of Blockchain securityas described above, network security can be maintained.

Embodiments of components according to this disclosure form a powerfulframework that enables modular, self-organized, self-optimized,self-healed, wireless mesh networked systems securely interconnectingmillions of connected IoT devices, including energy supply and demandendpoints. These embodiments enable both Transactive Energy services andTransactive Communications services. These embodiments furtherfacilitate the transformation of fixed-term single supplier servicearrangements, such as Electricity Utility service and Fixed WirelessAccess service, to multi-supplier with flexible period, transactiveterms between service suppliers and consumers, inviting competition intoan otherwise closed service arrangement. These embodiments flexiblyintegrate radio Base Station infrastructure into UE access Gatewayseliminating the need to build separate expensive radio BS accessnetworks.

As those of some skill in this art will by now appreciate and dependingon the particular application at hand, many modifications, substitutionsand variations can be made in and to the materials, apparatus,configurations and methods of use of the devices of the presentdisclosure without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. In lightof this, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited tothat of the particular embodiments illustrated and described herein, asthey are merely by way of some examples thereof, but rather, should befully commensurate with that of the claims appended hereafter and theirfunctional equivalents.

1. A method of receiving services at a user equipment (UE) gatewaythrough a network, comprising: sending a service request to one or moredistributed units in the network; receiving a proposed contract fromeach of the one or more distributed units; deciding on a winningproposed contract; notifying a winning distributed unit associated withthe winning proposed contract; and connecting to receive servicesthrough the winning distributed unit.
 2. The method of claim 1, furtherincluding receiving service availability beacons from the one or moredistributed units in the network.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theservice request is for internet services.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the service request includes a request for internet transactionservices according to one or more of parameters from a set of parametersthat includes a maximum bandwidth, a maximum latency, a maximumbit-error-rate, a maximum price, a start time, and an end time.
 5. Themethod of claim 3, wherein the winning proposed contract includes asubnet proposal that determines a data pathway with a centralized unit,the winning distributed unit, and a radio unit.
 6. The method of claim5, wherein the winning proposed contract includes an aggregatedplurality of subnets, each of the subnets including a centralized unit,a distributed unit, and a radio unit coupled to the UE gateway.
 7. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the service request is a temporary servicerequest of particular duration defined by the start time and the endtime.
 8. The method of claim 4, wherein the service request is for anindefinite time.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the service requestis for transactive energy services.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinthe service request includes a request for transactive energy servicesaccording to one or more parameters from a set of parameters thatincludes a kWh requirement, a price, a start time, and an end time. 11.The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more distributed units in thenetwork are energy node devices coupled to energy producers.
 12. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the service request is a request for servicesof a particular duration defined by a start time and an end time. 13.The method of claim 9, wherein the service request is a request forservices of an indefinite duration.
 14. A method of operating adistributed unit within a network, comprising: receiving a servicerequest from a user-equipment (UE) gateway; requesting service from aprovider according to the service request; receiving a provisionalcontract from the provider; providing a proposal with the provisionalcontract to the service request to the UE gateway; and if notified thatthe proposal is a winning proposal, arranging services to the UE gatewayaccording to the proposal.
 15. The method of claim 14, further includingtransmitting a service availability beacon to the UE gateway.
 16. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the service request is for internetservices.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the service requestincludes a request for internet transaction services according to one ormore of parameters from a set of parameters that includes a maximumbandwidth, a maximum latency, a maximum bit-error-rate, a maximum price,a start time, and an end time.
 18. The method of claim 16, furtherincluding assembling a subnet includes determining a data pathway with acentralized unit and a radio unit to provide services through thecentralized unit, the distributed unit, and the radio unit.
 19. Themethod of claim 18, wherein assembling the subnet includes aggregatingsubnets.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein subnets may include a firstsubnet including the distributed unit and a second subnet including asecond distributed unit.
 21. The method of claim 18, wherein aggregatingsubnets includes providing a plurality of subnets, each of the subnetsincluding a centralized unit, a subnet distributed unit, and a radiounit to link with the UE gateway, wherein the subnet distributed unitfor at least one of the plurality of subnets is the distributed unit.22. The method of claim 16, wherein the service request is for anindefinite time.
 23. The method of claim 16, wherein the service requestis for temporary services of particular duration defined by a start timeand an end time.
 24. The method of claim 14, wherein the distributedunit is an energy node and the service request is for transactive energyservices.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the service requestincludes a request for transactive energy services according to one ormore parameters from a set of parameters that includes a kWhrequirement, a price, a start time, and an end time.
 26. The method ofclaim 24, wherein the service request is a request for services of aparticular duration defined by a start time and an end time.
 27. Themethod of claim 24, wherein the service request is a request forservices of an indefinite duration.
 28. A user equipment (UE) gateway,comprising: a radio device that communicates with a network; a routercoupled to the radio device; and one or more device interfaces coupledto the router, wherein the router executes instructions to send aservice request to one or more distributed units in the network; receivea proposed contract from each of the one or more distributed units;decide on a winning proposed contract; notify a winning distributed unitassociated with the winning proposed contract; and connect to receiveservices through the winning distributed unit.
 29. The UE gateway ofclaim 28, wherein the router further executes instructions to receiveservice availability beacons from the one or more distributed units inthe network.
 30. The UE gateway of claim 28, wherein the service requestis for internet services.
 31. The UE gateway of claim 30, wherein theservice request includes a request for internet transaction servicesaccording to one or more of parameters from a set of parameters thatincludes a maximum bandwidth, a maximum latency, a maximumbit-error-rate, a maximum price, a start time, and an end time.
 32. TheUE gateway of claim 30, wherein the winning proposed contract includes asubnet proposal that determines a data pathway with a centralized unit,the winning distributed unit, and a radio unit.
 33. The UE gateway ofclaim 32, wherein the winning proposed contract includes an aggregatedplurality of subnets, each of the subnets including a centralized unit,a distributed unit, and a radio unit coupled to the UE gateway.
 34. TheUE gateway of claim 31, wherein the service request is a temporaryservice request of particular duration defined by the start time and theend time.
 35. The UE gateway of claim 31, wherein the service request isfor an indefinite time.
 36. The UE gateway of claim 28, wherein theservice request is for transactive energy services.
 37. The UE gatewayof claim 36, wherein the service request includes a request fortransactive energy services according to one or more parameters from aset of parameters that includes a kWh requirement, a price, a starttime, and an end time.
 38. The UE gateway of claim 36, wherein thedistributed unit is an energy node device coupled to energy producers.39. The UE gateway of claim 36, wherein the service request is a requestfor services of a particular duration defined by a start time and an endtime.
 40. The UE gateway of claim 36, wherein the service request is arequest for services of an indefinite duration.
 41. A distributed unit,comprising: a processing platform coupled between a centralized unit anda radio unit in a network, wherein the processing platform executinginstructions to receive a service request from a user-equipment (UE)gateway; request service from a provider according to the servicerequest; receive a provisional contract from the provider; provide aproposal with the provisional contract to the service request to the UEgateway; and if notified that the proposal is a winning proposal,arrange services to the UE gateway according to the proposal.
 42. Thedistributed unit of claim 41, wherein the distributed unit furtherexecutes instructions to transmit a service availability beacon to theUE gateway.
 43. The distributed unit of claim 41, wherein the servicerequest is for internet services.
 44. The distributed unit of claim 43,wherein the service request includes a request for internet transactionservices according to one or more of parameters from a set of parametersthat includes a maximum bandwidth, a maximum latency, a maximumbit-error-rate, a maximum price, a start time, and an end time.
 45. Thedistributed unit of claim 43, wherein the distributed unit furtherexecutes instructions to assemble a subnet includes determining a datapathway with a centralized unit and a radio unit to provide servicesthrough the distributed unit.
 46. The distributed unit of claim 45,wherein the instructions to assemble the subnet includes instructionsfor aggregating subnets.
 47. The distributed unit of claim 46, whereinsubnets may include a first subnet including the distributed unit and asecond subnet including a second distributed unit.
 48. The distributedunit of claim 46, wherein the instructions to aggregate subnets includesinstructions to provide a plurality of subnets, each of the subnetsincluding a centralized unit, a subnet distributed unit, and a radiounit to link with the UE gateway, wherein the subnet distributed unitfor at least one of the plurality of subnets is the distributed unit.49. The distributed unit of claim 41, wherein the service request is foran indefinite time.
 50. The distributed unit of claim 43, wherein theservice request is for temporary services of particular duration definedby a start time and an end time.
 51. The distributed unit of claim 41,wherein the distributed unit is an energy node and the service requestis for transactive energy services.
 52. The distributed unit of claim41, wherein the service request includes a request for transactiveenergy services according to one or more parameters from a set ofparameters that includes a kWh requirement, a price, a start time, andan end time.
 53. The distributed unit of claim 51, wherein the servicerequest is a request for services of a particular duration defined by astart time and an end time.
 54. The distributed unit of claim 51,wherein the service request is a request for services of an indefiniteduration.